A New Demon, Adopted from The Immoral Flame
by The New Sage of Six Paths
Summary: "Give us power." A black tendril shot from the black mass to wind around the Fox's snout, a second and third following as he bellowed in outrage. Strong/Smart Naruto, Bloodline. Possible Harem.
1. The Faith I have in me

**Authors Note: Hi! I'm The New Sage Of Six Paths and I've adopted this story from The Immoral Flame, hoping to finish where he/she left off. I hope I can make this story entertaining and get a few people to leave some reviews so I can know if I've done this justice or not. Anyways, on with the story and don't forget to review, please.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Venom from Spiderman.**

**The New Demon**

The shouts of celebration and happiness echoed high into the night of a peaceful village hidden in a forest in the land of fire. This was the birthplace of some of the strongest shinobi in the elemental nations, Konohagakure No Sato.

The reason for celebration?

The defeat of the great beast, the overwhelmingly strong, Kyuubi No Youko. They celebrated because their Yondaime Hokage had sacrificed his life to save them all and to kill the beast. Only a handful knew the truth of what happened the day the Kyuubi attacked and that same handful of people grieved for what was still happening to this day.

You see… The Kyuubi was not dead.

It lived within a boy of six years old, imprisoned because of its destructive nature and, naturally, for the attack on the village hidden in the leaves.

The Yondaime could not possibly hope to kill a being with no real body and so it was up to him to find a new way to stop this monstrous threat to the lives of his countrymen.

The Yondaime was not hailed as one of the strongest Kage level Shinobi to ever have been produced by Konoha for no reason… He was never out of options, and he certainly would never count himself out of a fight. Utilizing a Sealing method known as the Shiki Fuujin, the blonde Kage ingeniously sealed the beast inside of his only son, at the cost of his life, and to stop the rampaging destruction wrought by the tailed beast.

Ironically… The life he'd hoped to give his son turned out to be much worse for him than the death he saved him from.

The villagers hated him so very much for what he contained, and constantly made excuses for why he could not eat as well as they or simply exist for that matter. This boy, carrying such a tremendous burden, carried on day to day with the strength his father once carried.

And for Uzumaki Naruto… It was a way to show that he would not crumble and give these people what they wanted. He carried on and lived his life a day at a time, surviving and proving that he could be better than what they thought of him. Of course… No one ever paid him any attention…

Six year old Naruto was in the forest that surrounded Konoha, trying desperately to overcome his own ineptitude through training. He'd been here since the start of the celebration and would probably remain until it was finished.

He didn't want to be beaten again.

With a sigh, the blonde readied himself to begin his usual Taijutsu regiment, the fireworks in the background giving him a very good idea of what he could expect if he tried to go into the Village.

With a scowl, he launched himself forward, just as a violent streak of red crossed the heavens and touched down somewhere in Konoha. The thunderous touchdown of this object raised an ominous cloud of dust at its descension point and any that took notice of it instantly began to celebrate.

It had landed on the Demon's home, after all.

Maybe it had killed him? Hopefully. No one bothered to go inside and actually check, and so no one noticed the shining black stone, quivering as if alive resting at the center of the destroyed apartment.

Well... Almost no one.

The Sandaime Hokage, leader of Konoha, paled at what he'd seen and made a quick move to stand that prompted his unseen guards to blur into existence before him. His orders were given, sternly and grimly.

"Find Uzumaki Naruto and find out what that was."

He worried for the boy, as he was one of the few people that knew that Naruto was not what the villagers made him out to be. Due to his own meekness as a leader, he could not come to terms with how Naruto was truly treated in his own home, and had come down with a serious case of denial.

He denied that Naruto's life was truly as bad as it was made to to be. Of course, he was not oblivious to the bruises and scarring he'd noticed on young Naruto when he'd meet with him monthly to visit.

He chalked it up to the tiny blond being a rough a tumble youth.

He sighed as he made his way in the direction of Naruto's apartment, walking along with the hope that he'd see Naruto out here in the streets playing and not have to find him dead in that ruined apartment.

Naruto blinked as he stared at the volumous dust cloud hanging over Konoha, his stomach tightening. He frowned, trying to figure out what exactly had just happened. Maybe one of the fireworks had backfired? Or maybe…

"Not again…"

The blond took a running leap and fired off like a shot into the trees, headed back into Konoha. Meanwhile, three streaks of black blurred to catch up to him, per their orders to find him. They decided to observe his return to Konoha, so as not to make him too antsy with their presence. They stuck to the rooftops, covering him discreetly with their ever watchful gaze and Naruto was none the wiser.

The citizens of Konoha were not so unaware.

Naruto either didn't notice, or didn't care, that wherever he went as he ran the crowd parted like he had the plague. He ran quickly, his breath coming in pants as he finally reached what remained of his home. He frowned, tears welling up as he fell backwards to sit on his butt.

His home was nothing more than a smoldering wreckage now, and he was homeless once again. With a sigh and a grunt of annoyance, he leapt headlong into the flames to search out the only thing he had of value, hopefully, to save it. He disappeared into the fire just as his three shadows made it to him, causing the leader to swear almost inaudibly.

"I'm going after him. Stay here and make sure no one else enters."

Without waiting for a reply, the dog masked Anbu disappeared in a plume of smoke, leaving a Neko masked Anbu standing with a Bear masked Anbu.

Inside the fire, Naruto was near his burned up bed, prying up a loose floorboard so that he could get to his precious treasure.

He wiped his brow of sweat, smearing a black smudge on his face before he reached into the darkness of the opened up floor and grasped a ratty looking teddy bear from its confines.

He hugged the bear, forgetting himself for a moment while, at his back, a black shadow loomed and began to worm its way to him along the floor. Naruto leaned, intent on standing, and pressed his right hand to the floor so that he could get his feet under him.

Then the shadow struck.

It was so sudden he probably hadn't even noticed it, the black sludge like substance wrapping around his arm to tightly that he couldn't move. He began to hyperventilate, his eyes seeing but not understanding.

It swept up his arm and around his throat. A dry heave escaped him as it swept around and engulfed his face and suddenly vanished down his throat. A dry heave forced him onto his side that left him panting and hunched.

A cough wracked him and a single drop of that black sludge escaped into a crack in the floorboard.

Then he was being hauled to his feet and they were outside, his body trembling and sweating.

"Is he alright..?"

It was the Hokage's aged voice, his brow knit with concern as Naruto's vision began to swim and darken.

"I can't be certain; he needs to go to the hospital."

With that they were airborne again, but this time… Naruto passed out before they got to their destination.

The Kyuubi no Youko was many things, but afraid was not one of them. The beast had seen what had happened and was now staring down a mass of black that was steadily creeping towards the cell. First it had awakened him, trying desperately to breech the confinement the seal had provided. But something was happening now that it could not understand, at least, not fully.

"What is this..?"

A feeling of dread came over the fox, its eyes narrowing.

"What are you, then?"

There was no real answer, only the continued advance and a trembling and droning voice that made the fox both nervous and angry.

"Give us power."

A black tendril shot from the black mass to wind around the Fox's snout, a second and third following as he bellowed in outrage. With a lashing of one of its tails, the tendrils were destroyed and the black substance that had issued them was reduced to a smear.

A very annoying smear that reformed nearly instantly.

It quivered and bubbled, seeming contemplating what it would do now. Suddenly, the black mass launched itself at the seal tag that kept the doors to the cell closed, latching on and beginning to feed from the Chakra that the seal was absorbing from the fox. The fox snarled, but knew that it was ultimately powerless to stop this from happening, so it simply sat and watched.

"I hate this place."

The Hokage sighed, not truly understanding what was wrong with the boy he was watching over. Naruto was hooked up to a respirator, his chest rising and falling slowly as he "slept".

If only he were truly sleeping.

Turning his head, he took notice of the three Anbu that had been there to save the poor boy. Turning to regard his three subordinate's, he cast a sideways glance at the blond tucked into the sheets of the hospital bed.

"What exactly happened to him that's left him so... worn out?"

It was the Dog masked Anbu that spoke up first, standing straight and not deviating his attention from his leader.

"I believe he was attacked, Hokage-sama. When I took notice of him, he was looking for something. It turned out to be the stuffed bear he was found with. However, as I was moving to collect him, something struck out at him and... Well, sir, it forced its way down his throat. I do not know what to make of it, truthfully. Afterward, he was very tired, borderline comatose. I was worried for him, sir."

This news disturbed the elder Shinobi and prompted him to turn his head to look at the sleeping child. he reached out and stroked the blond locks of his little charge, his eyes showing great sorrow.

"Is there anything else?"

There was silence for a time, his subordinates gathering themselves. It was Neko that spoke up first.

"What will happen to him now, sir?"

This made the Sandaime smile, for he knew just how much Neko cared about the little bundle of energy. Inu nodded, his posture relaxing a bit.

"I too, am curious, Hokage-sama. Would it be alright if... Someone were to adopt him?"

The old man chuckled knowingly, his hand moving from Naruto's head to fish in his pocket for his pipe. With a simple tap to a seal engraved on its side, the old man lit it and turned to go.

"I don't believe there is anything wrong with that. When he awakens, you should bring him to me Inu, so that I can explain things to him."

In a swirl of leaves, the elder Kage was gone. The three Anbu couldn't see one another faces, but they knew that there were smiles being shared. Things might just start looking up for the boy at this rate.

**AN: Thanks for reading if you made it this far! Please, Review so i can see if I'm doing The Immoral Flame any justice here!**


	2. The Faith of my Father

**AN: Thanks for the reviews and for staying for the second Chapter of A New Demon. I'll get on with the story, but I'll just say that I plan on making one chapter update every week. I'll try to do it every monday, but sometimes I might be late because I have things to do. On with the story. Since I forgot to do it last time, here's the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer:I do not own Naruto or any of the characters depicted in this work of fiction. The same goes for any characters from Spider-man. I claim the right to use them in my works of fiction, but do not claim to own them.**

** A New Demon**

It was three days before Naruto woke up. Three long days that the fox had to get his hosts attention so that he could tell him what was what. It wasn't that Naruto wouldn't listen; it was that his comatose mind was far too busy with other such things to notice the fox's subtle hints to draw him into his mindscape. For the better part of those three days, the fox had come to realize something about the black "sludge" that had made itself known to the nine tailed beast.

It was sentient.

That was the most important discovery. The stuff had a mind of its own, but it was unlike anything the fox had ever seen. It rivaled its hatred with a cool intellect and logic so rigid that if this substance ever truly took control of Naruto's body…. Things would grow disastrous very quickly. It had continuously absorbed its host's chakra, or had tried to… until the fox had simply supplied it with more chakra.

This seemed to satiate it for now.

**"Where are you from? What is your name?"**

The fox glared at its new roommate, its annoyance growing by the second as the substance simply quivered against the seal tag on the gate to his cell.

It wasn't going to answer. It never answered.

**_"We have no name. Give us more power. Give us more power, or we will take it…"_**

This floored the fox; its eyes narrowing as the sludge-like material suddenly expanded and latched onto one of the many red pipes surroundings the cage. The fox grunted and bellowed in rage as nearly double the chakra that had been being consumed by this beast was suddenly ripped from him. It was nothing, still, not even a tail's worth…

But it would add up soon enough.

Where was this power going? And For what purpose was it being taken?

The great fox sighed and sat down, glaring angrily at its new… counterpart.

**"Damn you, Naruto… Wake up."**

With Naruto

Blue eyes fluttered open, sleepily sweeping around a room of pristine whites and sharp angles. It took a mere moment for the owner of these eyes to deduce where he'd exactly woken up and a second beyond that to realize that he did not want to be here. Sitting up, he suddenly recalled how he'd come to be here in the first place, a frown marring his whiskered face with the recollection of just what he had to deal with now.

"I'm homeless again..."

Just as soon as he sat up fully, the urge to close his eyes again overcame him and he slumped backwards with a groan. Images flashed behind his eyelids, flickering much too fast to be a dream, much too vividly to be anything but…

Real.

He trembled, his muscles straining with each and every attempt to get his body under his own control. He was failing miserably, so he sat still and began to ride out the sudden loss of control and see just what this was all about.

He jumped as he was suddenly dumped into a pool of murky water and he thrashed a bit, trying to get his bearing for a moment before he shot to his hands and knees while he sputtered and coughed the bitter fluid from his lungs.

What the hell?

He sat up, whipping his wet head this way and that as he tried as hard as he could to figure out just where he was. Standing, and trying to ignore the infuriatingly cold water at his feet, young Naruto began to trudge forward as if pulled by some unseen force. As he walked he observed his surroundings; pipes all branching out from one direction and a slow flow of muddy, at least he hoped it was, water flowing from the same direction as the pipes.

He was so caught up in his examination of the pipes that he didn't notice a wall of sticky black and so walked right into it. He grunted and flailed, finally coming free from the black wall with a mighty tug and falling on his butt into the water of the tunnel.

"What's that?"

The wall had, upon impact, taken on the shape of his face and the contours of his clothing and body as he'd walked into it. Without his body there to occupy it, the wall gave a funny sort of quiver and sprung back into its original shape- flat- before becoming still again.

Looking around, the blond took notice that there was no other way for him to continue other than through this wall. With a sigh, he stood and wrung out his shirt as he tried to find a solution to his problem.

"I wonder…"

The boy trudged forward yet again, this time extending his hand so that it pressed against the wall. It gave a quiver under his fingers, but he didn't pull away and chose to push forward. He held his breath and walked right into the wall and its embrace. He didn't expect it to latch onto him and wrap around his body like a glove.

He fell to his knees, his arms flailing before finally latching onto his face to claw at the black mass that had wrapped tightly around blond locks and encased his head in its rubber like embrace. He tugged, the black substance giving way for a moment, with much resistance of course, so that he could breathe.

A faint voice rang in his head, like a bell chiming.

**_"Give us power…"_**

Finally, it gave that same odd quiver and seemed to relax. His face remained uncovered, thankfully, but now he was covered from head to toe in a black suit of this material. As he looked, he noticed the "suit" was patched and fragmented in places, his clothing peeking through. He grabbed at it in the chest area and tugged, its fibers stretching but not truly coming free of his body.

It was stuck.

"What the fu-"

A roar of rage split the air, accompanied by a murderous intent that was so potent that it boiled the water at his feet. He was running before he knew what he was doing, his mind focused on why that sound didn't chill his blood but instead… made him hungry.

He had only been running for a short space of time before he burst into a tremendous room with a cage at the far end of the room. He stopped short, his eyes seeing but his mind not comprehending.

**_With Kyuubi_**

The black mass had devoured the seal completely, the cage doors thrown wide open. The nine-tails was free, but then again…. When you have a black leech stuck to your chest that leeched out your power, you couldn't possibly believe you were truly free.

**"Damn it! How the hell did this happen all of a sudden?!"**

The black mass on his chest quivered violently and the fox was brought down to its belly, growling and whimpering. Its head lifted and tremendous slitted red eyes being turned on the black suited Naruto. The boy was frozen in wonder, a bit of fear and a very healthy dose of confusion.

"Kyuubi? But you're…"

He frowned and shot forward, his small form speeding quickly into the general vicinity of the fox. The Kyuubi could do nothing but watch as its host grappled with its new prison, its eyes widening as the boy ripped and tore at the black mass that was absorbing its chakra.

"Why are you alive?! You know something about this, and if you die then I won't know what the hell is going on! So start talking!"

The fox was amused, but did not show it. A fairly weak growl rumbled in its chest and before long, the booming voice of the beast echoed around them both.

**"Careful, brat, I am not something you can so easily command… But I suppose, since you are helping me in such a small way, I can give you some answers. I'll do this if you can keep me from being absorbed by this thing."**

Naruto scoffed but fought harder, his small body straining with the strain of this constant struggle.

"What is this stuff? It got me already, so why is it…"

A light bulb blinked on in his head and he drew back his black covered fist and struck harshly into the center of the blackness on the Kyuubi's chest. The impact resonated with a dull 'schluk' just before his entire arm was engulfed up to the elbow. Naruto grit his teeth and began to pull, muttering in a harsh whisper to the Kyuubi.

"You owe me for this, fox."

He was sucked into the gigantic glob of black, his eyes closing. The fox closed its eyes and sighed as the glob detached from its chest to spatter upon the ground. As the fox stood and glared down at the black mass with clear distaste.

**"So you killed him, huh?"**

A new voice rang clear to the colossal being, making the fox turn its head so fast that the air was displaced.

"What is going on here?"

**"You're here too? Why are you here, too?"**

The Yondaime Hokage stepped out of the shadows of the room, his arms crossed and his ice blue eyes glaring frostily at the tremendous fox before him. His eyebrows were knit and his gaze flicked concernedly to the quivering mass of black at the Kyuubi's feet for a moment before being returned completely to the gigantic orange fox.

"I stored my chakra in the seal that that thing ate. I don't have much time, so I would like to make this quick."

Just as he finished speaking, the black mass shuddered violently before retracting in on itself in a torrent of swirling sludge. It condensed and subtracted from its own volume until Naruto lay, covered in head to toe, once again, in that strange black suit. His head remained uncovered, but it was clear that he was out of it.

"I… told you… I would do it..."

He struggled to his feet, two sets of eyes watching him; one with amused intrigue and the other with concern. Naruto finally righted himself, his eyes blinking tiredly as he gazed up at the fox.

"Now... Start talk…ing…Eh?"

He frowned as he noticed the fox wasn't paying him any attention anymore, but was watching something else entirely. He followed the fox's line of sight and reared back in surprise, his eyes wide and his expression unbelieving.

"The Yondaime..?!"

The Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato stood with his arms crossed and a small smile on his face as he gazed at Naruto. How he'd longed to see his son, and now… he could finally talk, but not about what he wanted to. He had to be quick, due to the chakra he'd stored running out quickly.

"Hello, Naruto."

Naruto was floored. How did he know his name? Why did he know his name? He was just… He was only…

"What the hell is going on here?!"

The fox moved to lie in its cage, watching Minato pointedly as the blond Kage spoke.

"Well… You see, it's like this… The Kyuubi was too strong to kill, so I did the next best thing. I sealed it inside of a newborn, due to it having too much chakra for anything else to be able to contain it. That's why it's not dead. I sealed it inside of you, Naruto. You're a hero!"

Naruto scowled and shot to his feet, pointing a finger at the Yondaime with a shout of rage. His body shook with barely suppressed rage, his cerulean blue eyes glaring hotly at the blue eyed man standing in front of him.

"You… You son of a bitch! You're the reason everyone hates me... You... I…"

The former leader took a step back at the sudden outburst, his arms dropping to his sides as he did. He hadn't expected such a reaction to this news. Why was he angry?

Unless….

No, the villagers couldn't have hated him, he'd told Sarutobi to tell everyone about why he'd sealed the beast, what Naruto was sacrificing to be their savior. As if sensing his inner question, the fox lowered a tail to the forehead of the Yondaime, who tensed out of reflex. The tip of the tail pressed to his forehead and he jumped as the images of his son's life until now flashed through his mind's eye.

God, no, this wasn't what he wanted for his boy… Not at all.

"My son, my boy… Naruto…I'm… I'm so sorry…"

The boy's glare softened a bit, but not completely. It was going to be very hard for him to forgive after he'd endured so many things.

"You're my… You…Father?"

The Fox eyed the Hokage who moved to stand before Naruto. He settled a hand on his shoulder and knelt to eye level with him, his own blue eyes

"Yes, Naruto, I am your father. Your mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina. We both gave our lives to keep you alive, but I see now that I should have found another way. I'm so very sorry for what I've done to you."

Naruto didn't speak, he could barely breathe. Tears welled up in his eyes and spilled over, running down his whiskered cheeks. He had a family! He had parents! But… Why hadn't anyone told him? Why was he being kept in the dark about these things?

Sarutobi-jiji.

He'd known everything, he was sure of that. So why hadn't he been told?

"Why… is everyone lying to me except you?"

The blond Kage frowned at that question, his hand coming up to wipe away the tears of his son. He smiled sadly, his eyes downcast as he began to try and answer his question.

"I have many, many enemies, Naruto. I think, Sarutobi was trying to protect you from that. He means well, son, but I think he may have gone about this the wrong way."

This made Naruto smile, albeit faintly, and nod softly. He looked over his shoulder at the fox, sitting with its tails curled around him and his eyes boring holes into the former Kage.

**"Yondaime, I know you know why I attacked all those years ago. I think I now understand what your other motive was for sealing me inside of this child. I will train him, and in doing so… I will acknowledge your skill by keeping this child safe in your stead."**

The dead leader turned his eyes on the Nine tails and nodded, his form rising as he settled his hand on his sons blond head. He ruffled his hair, smiling down at him.

"It's almost time for me to go. I have some things to tell you before I go, however."

He sighed and his eyes lidded as he stared at the ground.

"You grew up without a family and for that I'm sorry. I was shown what kind of burden you carry, all the hatred directed at you. I see your sadness and it makes me sad to know that I caused that."

He paused and his eyes closed.

"I can't make up for that, and worse still I am leaving you again to be alone. I'm a terrible father and I hope that you would one day forgive me."

He began to flicker and fade, his image going transparent for a few moments before he became solid again. The fox looked away, his eyes betraying his mood. He was sad that the boy could not have what he deserved.

"There was a masked man that attacked and took control of Kyuubi. He had a Sharingan eye that was strong enough to do this and I think, given that bit of evidence, that it might be Uchiha Madara that was behind that. Talk to Sarutobi, he can explain in greater detail."

He once again flickered, but this time as he became intangible, he did not return to the way he was. He remained intangible and he drew his hand back, stepping away as he did.

"I love you, Naruto. Goodbye."

With that, the blond Ex-Hokage vanished in a swirl of amber lights. It looked as if a swarm of lightning bugs had been scattered by a sudden movement.

**AN: Please don't** **forget to write a review on what you thought! If you feel like I did something wrong, tastefully bring it to my attention and I'll address it as needed. Also, I want to say that I'm glad that the people that did review were honest. Also, It seems I need to read another persons story of the same topic as this one to make sure i dont use something they already used. As always, this is The New Sage of Six Paths and thank you for reading.**


	3. The Faith That Wavers

**AN: Alright, here we go! Next chapter. Here's the disclaimer, and without further ado, lets get on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Naruto or Spiderman. I only write this because its fun and I'm usually bored during the week.**

** The Faith That Wavers**

Cerulean blue eyes blinked open, the owners mind fuzzy and his body tired. He lay there, staring unseeingly up at the pristine white ceiling of the hospital room he was in with his mind going over the events that happened, for him, only moments before he awakened. His eyes closed as he remembered the black substance that had attacked him and the fox, his meeting with his father of all people and… the promise he'd made with the fox just before he left.

**_Flashback_**

**"You're weak, gaki."**

Naruto's head whipped around to face the fox so fast, his neck cracked. He'd just saved this gigantic furry son of a bi-

**"I'll be training you to fix that. So go outside and get some rest."**

Naruto frowned, obviously puzzled about things as they were. He crossed his arms and stood his ground, his deep cerulean blue eyes glaring hotly at the gigantic orange mass before him. The fox had the nerve to look amused.

Smug son of a-

"Why are you bothering to train me? There's more to this than just the 'supposed' respect you have for the yonda- My father."

The fox seemed to accept this and sat up to give the boy its full attention, red eyes closing and its voice sounding rather meek for one of such stature.

**"It's because I know only you can kill him. You're the only one who has a will strong enough to kill someone like him. Uchiha Madara can and will end this world and I think it's up to you to stop him. He killed your parents, after all. Well, he planned their deaths by using me, but you get what I'm saying."**

The boy's ire grew and before he knew it, the boy had boiled over in a fit of rage so intense that even the great fox was startled for a moment. This, however, did not mean it showed.

Naruto stepped closer to the fox, completely uncaring that this beast could smear him where he stood. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that he now knew he was in his own mind, and that he was lord and master.

Maybe.

The boy's scowl lessened and he sighed altogether as it disappeared. Now that he actually thought about it… This damned fox might be the reason he had been beaten and abused his entire life, but it was also the reason he was still alive. He'd always healed up, perfectly fine, and he'd always had more stamina and strength than the others that did play with him.

The fox had been there, in some small way.

The fox cared, even if it didn't want to show it.

"Kyuubi, th-"

**"Natsumi."**

Naruto blinked up at the fox, his head tilting.

"Eh?"

The fox turned gigantic red hues to face the boy, its booming voice echoing around them.

**"My name is Natsumi. Kyuubi is just a title. Be ready to train tonight."**

"Wha-"

The boy gawked at; the now identified as female, fox before him for a few moments just before his vision began to swim. He heard a clearly feminine voice ring out to him from all directions.

**"I'll be in touch, Naruto. I promise you'll be the strongest anyone has ever seen."**

**_Flashback end._**

Naruto sat up, grunting from the effort. He rubbed his eyes and blinked away the lethargy in his body as he stretched. A knock on the door had him turning to look at the door, the mahogany swinging open to reveal Inu and his gravity defying hair.

"Hello, Naruto. Glad to see you're awake. How're you feeling?"

Naruto didn't know how to feel at this moment, his eyes closing a moment in a bid to collect himself. In truth, he didn't know anything about how much anyone knew. The only person he had a sure feeling about was Sarutobi –jiji.

He would cross that bridge when he came to it.

"I'm fine, Inu-san. Where's jiji?"

Inu stepped a bit closer, standing right across from Naruto as he crossed his arms over his chest with an eye smile at the small blond.

"He should be just finishing up a council meeting, Naruto. He told me to come and see if you were awake and if you were, he wanted to see you for himself. Are you feeling up to a visit to the Hokage's office, Naruto?"

The blond smiled, and hopped to his feet. He pulled on his sandals and ran to stand in front of the older Anbu.

"Always!"

With the Hokage

Sarutobi finished signing off on the last of the documents he'd needed to see to for the day. He'd only just returned from a council meeting regarding Naruto and the incident that had occurred three days ago. As he lit his pipe, he mused over what had been discussed in greater detail and frowned when he recalled some of the councils slights against the small boy that was his charge.

Flashback.

"Hokage-sama, we all know why we're here."

Danzo Shimura, the war hawk of Konoha glared impassively at the aged leader before him.

"What remains to be seen is what you want done about this incident. You claim the boy was not there, but in the same breath state that he arrived shortly after and was attacked."

He inwardly smirked, his lone eye turning from the elder Kage to look at Homura and Koharu. These were Sarutobi's advisors, and they were the biggest supporters of Danzo since he'd lost the race for Hokage all those years ago.

"We think that the boy set this up to get attention. He's been a prankster in the past and would not put it past him to be one again. The only loose end here is the Anbu that tailed him from the forest back to where all this happened."

Sarutobi sighed and pulled gingerly at the brim to the Hokage hat he was wearing, his eyes being hidden from view. He hated it when this happened, because he knew what Danzo wanted from him.

"They never lost sight of him, but where were they before any of this happened? They were ordered to watch him, and they didn't."

It was at this point that one of said Anbu cleared his throat and looked to the Hokage for permission to speak. Sarutobi smiled and spoke, his head nodding toward the bear masked Anbu.

"Do you wish to speak, bear? Please, by all means."

The Anbu nodded and began to speak, his gaze fixed forward on the far wall and away from anyone he could offend.

"I would like to point out that we had been observing Uzumaki Naruto since he'd awakened that day. He had no time, while any of us were watching, to plant any explosives or to even find any to plant for that matter."

Sarutobi smiled but remained silent, watching from the corner of his eye as Danzo began to grow annoyed at what the masked male was insinuating. The Hokage gestured for the Anbu to continue speaking, as he obviously still had more to say.

"I would also like to point out that the type of explosion that occurred was from something impacting the area from a very high velocity and height. Whatever made that explosion happen… Uzumaki could not have done it."

Danzo remained impassive, but inwardly he was outraged that this underling would dare to insinuate he was a liar. Danzo nodded to the Anbu while Homura spoke.

"There was nothing found at the impact site, but we acknowledge that the boy could not have done this alone. We will investigate further."

With that, the meeting was called and the council dispersed. Sarutobi left with a grimace on his face, knowing his long time rival would not allow this to just blow over. They were simply fishing for time to come up with something to make it so that Danzo could wrap his greedy claws around him and mold him into a killing machine.

**_Flashback End._**

Sarutobi looked up at the sudden disturbance of a white haired man climbing in through the window to his office, his hand stowing the Kunai that had been grabbed in haste.

"Jiraiya-kun, it's good to see you. I assume you got my message?"

The white haired man nodded as he folded his arms over his chest, his eyes fixed pointedly on the old Kage for more information.

"I need you to train Naruto for a while."

The old sage's eyes widened for a moment before he frowned a bit. He knew things were bad, but not as bad as to have Naruto gone for a bit and trained. The Akatsuki was a pretty big threat to the boy's welfare, but they weren't going to be active for a while. They were gathering funds because a certain member robbed them blind when he quit.

Right?

"What's going on, old man? The plan was for me to lay low and gather information, but now you're altering it. Why?"

Sarutobi sighed and stood from his desk and walked around it to stand beside Jiraiya, facing the windows so that he could gaze out over Konoha. It looked peaceful and serene.

He wanted to keep it that way.

"I cannot, in good conscience, keep Naruto here with the knowledge that my council will try to harm him over something he did not do."

This made Jiraiya roll his eyes, his arms crossing as he listened. The old man was right, even if he was a bit late in his realization. They already had their cruel hands wrapped right around the boy's jugular, figuratively.

It was only a matter of time before he suffocates.

"I think I'm getting what you want me to do. I'll train him, and keep him out of the village so you can smooth over the problems that have been caused by this unfortunate event."

The Sandaime smiled and clasped his hands behind his back, his eyes scanning the calm expanse of the village visible from his office window. He turned his head in Jiraiya's direction, speaking softly.

"He needs to be as strong as you can make him, Jiraiya. He has too many people out to get him for him to be anything less."

The younger man smirked and scoffed. As if he couldn't get the kid strong enough to deal with at least some of his problems.

"He'll be strong enough. He's already stronger than some of the people in this village in willpower alone."

The Sandaime turned back to his window for a moment, his lips parting to speak just as a knock split the air at his office door. Walking back to his desk, the older man took a seat and spoke with a tone that demanded respect for his power and for his stature, and all with one word.

"Enter."

The door swung wide to reveal Naruto and Inu, the former sitting on the latter shoulders with a grin plastered on his face. As the owners cerulean blue eyes fixed on the elder Kage, however, the smile wavered only for a second before it was brought back up in full force.

The Hokage noticed, and began to wonder just what happened to make something like that happen.

"Naruto, Inu, it's good to see you both. Naruto, how do you feel?"

The smile evaporated faster than a puddle in a heat wave.

"Fine."

The masked Anbu quirked a brow under his mask, but otherwise remained silent as he settled his young charge on his feet. The blond fixed his 'grandfather' with a stare that was both angry and sad, somehow.

"Is something wrong, Naruto?"

No one had even addressed the sage standing near the windows, and he didn't plan on drawing any attention to himself unless he had to. It seemed like the boy was upset, and he didn't want to be in the middle of a temper tantrum from a temperamental child.

"I found out a lot of things while I was asleep, jiji. Like, what's inside of me and why and even who put it there."

The Hokage paled, his eyes staring silently at the boy before him. The reaction he received from meeting his gaze was like staring into his fathers eyes when he was angry, worse still, when that rage was directed at you.

It was suffocatingly intimidating, the way this boy loomed so tall like a giant before him, who was considered the most powerful man in his village.

"I see. And how did you come across such information?"

There was a pause, to which the child sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Natsumi took this opportunity to speak to her charge, her voice a soft whisper in his consciousness.

**"You can tell them everything. I don't think they'll do much, aside from more questions and a little precaution."**

Naruto didn't react to her voice, though his eyes opened and turned to look at the unknown, to him at least, white haired man standing with his arms crossed near the window.

"Who's he?"

Jiraiya smiled and stepped forward, introducing himself.

"I'm the great toad sage of Mount Myoboku, Jiraiya the gallant!"

Naruto sweatdropped, his stare going from his earlier intimidating one to another of complete disbelief and confusion.

"Who?"

Jiraiya face vaulted, the young blond before him itching the back of his head sheepishly as he turned back to Sarutobi. Suddenly, his eyes were settled once again on the elder Kage, who resisted the urge to squirm.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you lie?"

Naruto's tone was subdued, his eyes going from sad to enraged as he took a few steps toward the Hokage's desk.

"You couldn't tell me about the fox, why? Because of some stupid law that YOU made? And what about my parents, huh? I understand about dad, he told me… But you could've at least told me about my mom!"

No longer was his tone subdued. It had risen from that well beyond pissed and all the way to murderous. Throughout all of this, the Hokage sat in silence wand waited patiently for the boy to expend all of his anger. Through that, the elder was ashamed to say that the boy had a point.

He'd dropped the ball.

"Now, wait a minute! Sarutobi had a good reason for why he did the things he did! He was keeping you safe!"

Naruto's ire swelled even more, his head whipping around to glare at Jiraiya as he pointed a finger at him.

"Who asked you?! You don't know me! I don't even want to know you, so why the hell are you defending him for things you know nothing about!"

Jiraiya was silent for a moment, stunned at the rage coming off the boy.

"I do know. I was your father's teacher. And I'm your godfather."

The boy's breathing picked up and he yelled in a fury, turning on Jiraiya as he glared with fiery intent at the white haired sage. The yell was unintelligible, his words coming out as not really words at all, but an outpouring of emotion in a rhetoric as old a time. Long story short?

He was pissed.

"Where the **_FUCK_** have you been?! I've been here all alone for years, enduring all of this… this... SHIT because you were off doing what anyone could guess!"

Sarutobi sighed, drawing the blond's attention off of Jiraiya and onto himself. Sarutobi winced as the boys volume increased yet again, his lungs probably rattling as he screeched out his displeasure..

"And you! Yet another thing you didn't see fit to tell me about! Am I not important enough to know about my own life?! Am I... Not important to anyone...?"

With that little utterance, the boys rage broke into a downpour of sadness that seemed to knock the wind out of him. He sank into a chair and rested his elbows on his knees, his hands covering his face as he doubled over and cried.

All three of the rooms older occupants looked at one another, and of them could feel the weight the boy carried inside of himself. Sarutobi had fucked up, royally, and now they had broken him a little more than he was before. It nearly broke Sarutobi to see his surrogate grandson this way, but he knew that he did what he had to do to keep the boy safe. He'd get over it, and this would all blow over.

Right?

"Naruto."

Sarutobi wasn't surprised when he'd been ignored, but he tried a bit harder.

"Naruto."

"…"

"NARUTO."

The boy sat up with a start, his expressive blue hues being focused on Sarutobi. A moment later, the glare returned, but the boy said nothing.

"I'm sorry about this, I truly am. But I did what I thought was right to keep you a little safer than you would have been had I not done it."

The boy scoffed and snarked out loud, his eyes closing as he turned his head away from the elder Kage and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, I think being beaten daily is so much better."

All three of the older ninja winced at that jibe.

"I'm sending you on a training trip for five years with Jiraiya and Inu. They'll teach you everything you need to know about being a Ninja and will keep you safe and away from the hurtful people of this village."

Naruto scoffed again, and turned petulant eyes on Jiraiya before turning to look at Inu. He realized he didn't know this man besides his mask, but he felt he could trust him because of that fact.

"Hokage-sama."

The aged Kage flinched slightly and frowned as Naruto addressed him as such. It showed how little faith the blond had in him now, and it served as a way for him to know that he wasn't being trusted fully anymore.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"I want all of my father's techniques and I want them, **_now_**."

The hokage sighed and nodded. He didn't need to know how Minato had spoke to his son, he and Jiraiya already knew the details behind the sealing. Sarutobi stood and walked to a picture frame that held the Yondaime's face and removed it, releasing a seal that had been applied to the wall so that he could get into a safe that contained Naruto's things.

A letter from his parents sat on the top of a stack of scrolls, but Naruto wouldn't be reading that in his present company.

"I'll go on this little training trip. I'll get stronger. But I am not doing it for this village, or for any of you. I'm doing it for me, and I'm telling you lot first before I tell anyone else."

The young blond turned his eyes on Sarutobi and leveled a glare so fierce it froze the old Kage's breath in his chest.

"If I am attacked again when I come back, I won't stand there and take it."

The atmosphere in the room was heavy and growing heavier still. With that, the young blond looked at Jiraiya and crossed his arms.

"I'm going to extend a bit of trust to you and give you a second chance to make good on being my godfather. You can watch over the stuff my father left me and keep it safe until I need it, since you're going to be my teacher. "

Turning towards Jiraiya and looking at all three of the older Ninja in turn, her uncrossed his arms and stuck them in his pockets.

"When do we leave?"

**AN: Alright, that was chapter three! Once again, please review and tell me if you spot anything out of place, like spelling errors and the like. I've already started the fourth chapter, so it might get posted before my usual time. No promises.**

**-The New Sage Of Six Paths.**


	4. The Faith of the strong

**AN: Thanks for waiting and for all the reviews that I've gotten so far. Anyways, this is chapter 4. Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, or Spider-man or venom. I'm just playing in a world much bigger than me.**

**Chapter 4**

_**Faith of the strong**_

Naruto sighed, his arms crossed and his eyes glaring ahead of him at the silver haired man walking ahead of him with his head stuck in a book. They'd left about four hours ago, heading only god knows where and hadn't even started even a small bit of conversation. Not that the now identified Kakashi hadn't tried. He'd tried talking to Jiraiya, which had resulted in him steering the conversation away from training and into less tame waters.

Like women, for instance.

Naruto hadn't wanted to hear about anything like that, so he voiced his opinion and made it known that he wanted to start training as soon as possible. Jiraiya had clammed up after that and Kakashi was left trying to find a way to talk to Naruto, to get to know him a bit better. It was a bit suspicious to Naruto, however, that Jiraiya wanted to take him training but not talk about what he would specifically be training in.

He glowered as he caught the white haired Sannin peeking at him over his shoulder and watched as he looked straight ahead again, not saying a word. It was as if he was angry about something, or maybe he just didn't know what to teach him?

Suspicious indeed.

After about an hour of Kakashi trying and failing to get a conversation started, Naruto had had enough. He stopped walking and slammed his pack down onto the ground, his arms remaining crossed but his voice leaving him in a snarl of annoyance.

"That's it! Not one more step until we all have a grasp of what is going to happen during this trip!"

Kakashi sighed and slipped his little orange book back into his kunai pouch, his right hand being tucked into his pocket while his left remained at his side. Jiraiya's shoulders slumped and he didn't immediately turn around to face either of his two traveling partners.

"We need to keep going, gaki. We can't do the training I have in mind for you until we get to where I'm taking you."

Naruto marched right up to the white haired Sage and walked right into his line of vision, his arms still crossed and his face set into a petulant scowl. Jiraiya wanted to face palm at his stupidity. He hadn't even told them what he was planning, so now they were angry. Naruto growled and stepped a bit closer, his foot lashing out to catch Jiraiya in the shin.

"You need to tell us what you have planned so we aren't wandering around like a pack of morons!"

Well, okay, Naruto was angry.

"Right, right, I'm sorry. We're going to a place where we won't be disturbed. It's about two days away from where we are-"

Naruto stomped his foot and raised his voice once again, making the old pervert wince from the volume and Kakashi sweat dropped.

"I want to start right now, not later. Isn't there anything we can get a head start on at least?"

It was at this point that Kakashi spoke up, his uncovered eye curving up in that signature 'eye smile' of his. He knew just the thing, and he was sure Jiraiya wouldn't mind showing him this small thing, after all… It was just the basics.

"We can teach you how to use your chakra, right, Jiraiya-sama?"

With a nod, Jiraiya crossed his arms again. He stepped around Naruto and continued walking, the other two following his lead. Jiraiya began to speak once again, his head turning to look at Naruto out of the corner of his eye.

"The first thing you have to know is that you need to meditate to gain an awareness of your chakra. If you can't do that, then you won't be able to use it as effectively. The faster you master summoning your chakra, the sooner we can get on to teaching you Ninjutsu and everything that goes with that."

Naruto was silent for a moment as he contemplated this. With a grin he launched himself forward and latched onto Jiraiya's back with his small hands gripping the red jacket he was wearing as he clawed his way to settle on his godfather's shoulders.

"There now, was that so hard?"

Jiraiya chuckled and shook his head while Kakashi resumed reading his book. Naruto shut his eyes and began to meditate, trying to focus on anything that felt like something that would give him more strength. It was at this time that Kakashi chose to speak.

"Naruto, you should focus on a warm feeling of security and peace. That's what it felt like for me, so maybe it'll be the same for you."

Naruto didn't move or even acknowledge that Kakashi had spoken to him, but the older Ninja knew he was just focusing and not ignoring him. It made him eye smile again because it reminded him of how he was when he was young. So head strong and ready to take on anything.

Little did they know, they weren't ready for just how head strong their charge was. The moment Naruto opened his eyes, everything changed.

The air was thick, heavy with all the ambient chakra in the air and Naruto stood unseeingly before him as the other two Ninja were thrown back to skid into the dirt. A pillar of chakra erupted around the small blond, black tendrils sprouting from every pore of his body to cover him from head to toe.

**_Naruto's Mindscape_**

Within him, the fox grinned as she stabbed one of her tails into the gigantic blue pipe to the left of her cage in Naruto's mindscape. She pumped her chakra into it and cackled.

**"He's going to be a god!**

She was rewriting his DNA code, subtly changing his blood so that he would have something no one had seen since the inception of the Rikudou Sennin. She did this with a shit eating grin on her face, knowing full well that he'd be unaware she even had a hand in it.

**"Have fun making people regret what they did to you, Gaki."**

AS she lay down, her eyes closing, she managed one more grin.

**"I know I will."**

**_Outside_**

Naruto couldn't move, and even if he could, what the hell would he do? His eyes streamed tears of blood before being dissolved by the nine-tails chakra altogether. The Chakra swept into his eyes and began to regenerate them, his eyes closing tightly around the balls of chakra that had formed as he sank to his knees.

The pillar of chakra around him suddenly dispersed and he was left kneeling on his hands and knees, his eyes closed tight as they continued to burn. This was when Jiraiya and Kakashi landed on either side of him, the white haired man hefting the black clad boy onto his back while Kakashi lifted his headband to gaze around them.

This was when Naruto opened his eyes.

"What happened…? Why's everything so bright? Ugh, my head hurts…"

Kakashi turned his eyes on Naruto and had to take a step back at what he was seeing. His eyes were wide and his posture completely tensing up as he gazed into Naruto's eyes. He couldn't speak or blink, not even as Naruto frowned and waved a hand in front of his face.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi came to himself and spoke quickly, trying to convey to Jiraiya just what he was seeing.

"Jiraiya-sama, things just changed with how this training trip was supposed to go."

Jiraiya scowled and shot a look at Kakashi that said 'What the fuck are you talking about?', thus making Kakashi point at Naruto. Jiraiya rolled his eyes and took to the trees, his voice carrying as he spoke over the rush of wind in his ears.

"We can talk about that later, we need to get out of this area quickly. Someone will be along to investigate that spectacle Naruto just caused. Naruto, on the other hand was drifting off to sleep, his eyelids getting heavy. He wasn't particularly tired, but when a chakra monster in your stomach calls you into your mind, you tend to get sleepy really quickly.

**_Naruto's Mindscape_**

Naruto blinked open his eyes, the chakra in the air around him making him blink and rub his eyes. He didn't know what he was seeing; he didn't understand what was wrong with his eyes.

That was when he got a look in the water around his ankles at his reflection.

His blue eyes were gone, replaced with three concentric circles around a small dot-like pupil. The normally white backdrop of his eye was now a soft shade of lavender. He didn't know what to make of this, his eyes wide and staring at his reflection disbelieving. What the hell?

Who the hell?

How the fu-

He was broken from his wondering by a rather long strand of reddish orange chakra wrapping around his midsection and sucking him down a corridor so that he could be dangled in front of the fox as she slept. A single massive red eye peeked open to gaze amusedly at the black clad boy.

Then she dropped him into the foul smelling water below him.

He sat up sputtering and choking on the water as it left his lungs, his glare petulant enough to melt steel.

"What the hell… Why am I here?"

The fox gave a gusting sigh that nearly toppled the boy, but he stood strong and crossed his arms over his chest.

**"I summoned you here because we needed to talk."**

The boy sighed and shook some water out of his hair, rubbing his eyes a moment before he spoke again, his arms crossing.

"I'm guessing it's about these eyes."

The fox smiled, revealing fangs that were his size or larger. He wasn't afraid of this being in the slightest, not even if she could kill him. If she'd wanted to do that, he would have been a smear by now.

He wasn't stupid.

"So talk."

**_Outside_**

Jiraiya and Kakashi finally came to a stop in a small clearing, the two ninja sharing a look before Jiraiya nodded at Kakashi. The silver haired shinobi leapt into the trees, silently, as Jiraiya made a clone to see to setting up their tent while he looked over Naruto.

"Little gaki would be asleep after something like that... but what exactly… was that? His chakra is enormous. There's no way someone didn't feel it when he summoned it… So how is it that we haven't been accosted yet?"

Jiraiya turned his head just as Kakashi phased into the spot where he'd been looking.

"Maybe it's because there wasn't anyone around. Or maybe Sandaime-sama had something to do with us not being beset by anyone. We are still pretty close to the village."

Jiraiya mulled this over.

"It's not like we can do anything about it, at any rate. If no one felt that, then we got lucky. We need to be more careful. I think we'll need to take him to Mount Myoboku after he gets a good grasp on his early training. Unfortunately, you won't be able to come, and will have to return to the village if that happens."

Kakashi nodded, pulling out his book as he hopped into a tree. He began to read, his headband being lowered back over his Sharingan while his other eye focused on the page of his book.

"I don't have a problem with that. I just want you to know that I plan on adopting him when he gets back. The paper work has already been put in, and Sandaime-sama is going to force them through so that he'll be able to have a home he can be safe in."

Jiraiya, whom had been idly watching his clone start a fire, chuckled but did not look at the other ninja.

"He'd like that. And more than that, he deserves it. Take care of him, Kakashi."

The younger ninja chuckled but didn't say anything. He lowered his book and spoke in a more serious tone.

"Jiraiya-sama… His eyes changed when I looked at him after the chakra surge. They were… I think they were a doujutsu. I've never seen anything like them. When he wakes… I think you should take a look at them."

Jiraiya didn't say anything more, but he did settle the small black clad boy on his own sleeping bag. This was when he truly took notice of the boys attire. His orange jumpsuit was gone, and he frowned as he fingered the black material that was covering his godsons body.

"What's this?"

He prodded it and his head tilted as the silky smooth material conformed around his finger as he pressed into it. He removed a Kunai from his pouch and tried to cut off a sample of the material but found that he couldn't as his Kunai couldn't cut it.

"What… is this?"

Stowing his Kunai, he heard Kakashi land behind him and walk over. He scowled and sat back, his mind working.

"I don't know what that is, but I think I might know where he got it."

**_Naruto's Mindscape_**

Naruto grinned up at the amused fox, his arms folded behind his head as he leaned upon the massive paw of the fox that he'd now come to understand was his guardian.

"Natsumi-chan, you're the best! These eyes will make training much easier!"

The fox smiled and patted the boy on the head with the end of one tail.

**"It's going to be easier, but still difficult. You have to get really strong in such a short space of time… That's why; when you turn sixteen I'll have something else to give you."**

Naruto blinked up at her, his head tilting.

"Are you going to tell me what it is?"

**"No."**

Naruto glowered at her for this, obviously displeased.

"What if I-"

**"No."**

"But I co-"

**"Nuh uh."**

He deflated and glared, but didn't say anything more. With that, the fox began to shrink, a beautiful woman with black hair and crimson eyes staring back at him. She was dressed in a form fitting red shirt with some loose fitting black bottoms. Her feet were bare, as were her hands. Her nails were claws and her canines were longer than a normal human's, but he knew it was because of who and what she was. Behind her, waved nine orange tails; seven of which curled around her shoulders and midsection, acting as a makeshift jacket of sorts.

Naruto was gob smacked.

"You're really pretty!"

This made her quirk a brow, but inwardly, she was pleased. She knew she was pretty, gorgeous even, and it never hurt to have a second opinion.

**"We're going to start training now. Outside of this place, your body is sleeping. This is because I made you sleep."**

Naruto nodded, his arms crossing over his chest. She knew he was listening, and that she had his undivided attention.

**"When I'm done with you after these five years… With the help of the two others with you, you'll become stronger than you could very well imagine."**

At this, Naruto sighed and leveled a look on her that, for some reason, made her knees quiver and her blood race.

"I can imagine quite a bit."

**_Meanwhile, in Konoha a few years later_**

A raven haired boy sat with his arms crossed at the end of a pier, his expression downcast. He looked positively depressed, and for good reason.

His brother had gone rogue and killed his entire family.

They didn't even know why, but Sasuke knew. He'd been told after all that in order to measure his strength, his brother Itachi had slaughtered his entire family. It was a good test, being that it was an entire family of Assassins.

He'd spared Sasuke.

Sasuke pulled his knees up to his chest, watching as the water beneath his feet waved and rippled, showing him his reflection as he thought back on what had happened to him. His brother had tortured him, showing him the deaths of every single on of his clans men.

His family.

He's been subjected to the Tsukuyomi, a very strong genjutsu that was said to be unbreakable. He'd been in there for three days in his brothers mind, but in reality it had only been a few seconds. It was because of this that young Sasuke was tormented so. He hated his brother for being so good, for taking up all of the glory of being the favored son and for being able to command his father's respect with his incredible skill. Sasuke stared at the now glass-like surface of the water he sat above and scowled, seeing in his image his brother's face.

Hatred burned in him and he launched himself forward off the pier and into the water. He kicked and he thrashed beneath the water, coming to a conclusion within his mind and in his heart.

Itachi would die for what he'd done.

Breaking the surface, he hauled himself out of the water with new purpose, his eyes hard and closed off to emotional attachment. From this point on, he was an Avenger, he would live with the sole intention of reviving his clan and making sure Itachi died as brutal a death as he could. His fists clenched and he stood, not caring that he was streaming water or that he was drawing attention to himself at the few passersby that took notice of him.

He had resolved his inner turmoil to a point.

Standing a bit taller, he gazed up into the sky and closed his eyes.

"You'll pay, Itachi… I swear, you'll pay for what you've done."

As he turned to leave, a small black bit of sludge hovered just under a rock, pulsing and twitching as it sensed his hatred and resolve. It twitched and gave an odd little shudder before shooting off at the back of the small boys head. Sasuke's reflexes kicked in, his sense of awareness alerting to something incoming at him.

He turned, but was not fast enough to get out of the way of the incoming projectile and was struck in the face instead.

The black sludge expanded rapidly, soon engulfing the entire boy's body and encasing him in a black suit of some nameless material. Soon, the suit melded back into the boys usual attire but Sasuke was left unconscious.

He was later found by a civilian who alerted a nearby ninja that ferried the last Uchiha to the hospital. He awakened some time later, his hand lifting to rub at his eyes before he was sent reeling by a tremendous pain that suddenly exploded behind his eyes. He cried out, his eyes unable to close as the black sludge from before crept out around his eyeballs.

He was crying, but not of his own volition.

**_"Give us power…"_**

He could hear the voice, but he could do nothing to answer it. With a grunt, he forced his eyes to shut. The clothing he wore melded back into the black suit, but now that too began to change. His hatred burned within him, the being within him rifling through his thoughts and his memories.

Sharingan.

It seemed to recognize what these eyes could do from his memories and, as he lay there unable to stop the pain or even focus for that matter, it forced the boys eyes open again.

Tears of blood ran down his cheeks, but what was truly amazing was that his blood line had been forcibly awakened. Two eyes full of crimson hatred and desire for retribution glared hotly at the ceiling, unseeing.

The pain stopped.

Sasuke sat up, wiping his eyes as he gazed at the now blood red suit adorning his body. He could feel the strength of his limbs and the newfound awareness of his senses. He looked to his left and found himself staring at a reflection of himself in the window, his eyes wide as he realized just what he was seeing.

"My Sharingan… awakened?"

Looking down at his hands, covered in this strange material, his face set into a determined sneer. Yes, with this new power he could finally get a head start on defeating his brother and reviving his clan. Things were certainly looking up, and with a determined glint in his eye he swung his legs off of the bed and opened his window.

He was gone before the body heat in the bed he'd slept in began to leave it.

**_Time skip, three years later; outside of Konoha_**

Two ninja walked silently, each thinking back on their training or in some cases teachings. It had been a very fruitful five years, a long time to train and better ones self. A blond shinobi, wearing black pants that didn't quite reach his ankles and a rust orange high collared cloak grinned as he looked up at his white haired god father.

"Been a while, but we're finally back, eh, Ero-sennin?"

The white haired sage glowered at his young charge, his arms crossing as they walked. He wasn't truly annoyed, he was just kind of settled into a little thing they had between each other.

"I thought you were going to stop calling me that, gaki?"

This made the blond grin sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. In truth, he respected the older Shinobi a great deal and had gotten over how angry he'd been upon meeting him. As he'd matured a bit, he had realized that they had been right about not telling him about his family, but that still didn't take away the bite of finding out how he had.

His smile wavered for a moment before he walked a bit faster, outstripping the older man as he folded his arms behind his head. His torso was revealed beneath the cloak, it being covered by a sleeveless black shirt that wasn't too loose or too tight. Covering that was a modified version of the Konoha flak jacket, the same color as his cloak. He wore black ninja sandals to complete the look.

"I'll stop calling you that when you stop perving around at hot springs."

The older man rolled his eyes and leveled a dry glare at the back of his student's head. He knew the boy wasn't like him in that regard, but that didn't mean he had to be so stiff all the time.

"Whatever, brat. I remember what happened in Snow Country, and I won't let you forget it."

Naruto could hear the smug laughter in the old man's voice and it grated on his nerves. He stopped and turned around, pointing a finger at the older Ninja as his eyebrow twitched.

"That wasn't funny! I was nearly raped because of you!"

The white haired Sannin laughed good naturedly, his sly expression once again being directed at his apprentice.

"If I recall… You were chasing her before things went downhill, remember gaki?"

**_Flashback_**

Naruto walked along, clutching his cloak to him tighter for warmth. He sighed, his breath leaving him in a rush of misting white as he trudged along through the snow to try and find his god Father. He'd been told to find a hotel and to buy some rooms and he had, but after waiting to be trained for a few hours, he had left Kakashi to go and find him.

And it was colder than Santa's nuts outside.

The young blond sneezed as he rounded a corner, colliding with someone whom he was able to catch just as they were about to fall. He steadied this person and looked up into the prettiest blue eyes he'd ever seen.

He blinked once or twice and blushed when he realized that he was still holding onto her like some kind of pervert and rubbed the back of his head as he did.

"Sorry about that, I should have watched where I was going."

She giggled and shook her head, the soft blue tresses of her hair shifting ever so slightly. He was mesmerized, her smile making him warmer than he'd been in days.

"It's okay. My name is Kana. I'm sorry about bumping into you, but you've got some reflexes to catch me before I fell!"

Her eyes were drawn to his headband and she immediately smiled and clasped her hands behind her back.

"You're a ninja! That's why you're so quick!"

Naruto sputtered like an idiot for a few moments before he nodded, dumbly. He was still trying to say his own name.

"My name is Naruto. It's nice to meet you! Err, yeah, I'm a ninja, and I plan to be the very best too!"

She giggled and leaned in close, her nose inches from his own as she gazed into his eyes. She had never seen anyone with eyes like his, and even still she hadn't met many ninja before, either. She was intrigued.

"You must be really strong! Plus, your eyes are really cute!"

Naruto blushed at this and itched his cheek, shyly.

"Err… uh, t-thank you. Listen, I err… I have to go and find my godfather, maybe you've seen him? He's got long white hair and he's wearing geta with a forehead protector that says oil on it."

She seemed to think for a minute before she nodded her head with a smile.

"I saw him a few minutes ago when I was walking by the bar. He's probably there. Do you know the way?"

She grabbed his hand and led him there without waiting for a reply, his face alight with a small smile. She showed him where the bar was and waved to him before she turned and went on her way, Naruto waving at her as she did until she was out of sight. Turning, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he found himself staring at a certain silver haired ninja with gravity defying hair and one eye covered.

"Gah! Kakashi-sensei, what the hell?"

The cycloptic ninja performed his usual eye smile and closed his book as he spoke.

"Sorry Naruto, I was looking for you. I found Jiraiya-sama. He was here, but he left a few minutes ago. I'll show you where he went."

With a nod, both Ninja were off and roof hopping to get to wherever they were going. They found the older ninja crouched in some bushes peeking into a slightly fogged window, his face alight with a blush and perverted giggling in full swing. Naruto sweat dropped as Kakashi pulled out his book.

Meanwhile, a certain blue haired girl was just walking into the same building that Jiraiya was peeking into. He continued his giggling just as Naruto walked up and bopped him on the head, making him fall over and glare up at who had dared to interrupt him, only to pale when he saw it was Naruto.

"Naruto! What can I do for you? I'm kind of busy right now… but... I could teach you a few Jutsu if that's what you want."

At this point Naruto knew he had the old pervert right where he wanted him. He crossed his arms and glared ath the white haired old man for leaving him alone when he could be training. As he opened his mouth to speak, he heard a voice from just inside the window and out of instinct, turned his head to look.

He regretted it instantly.

Those same eyes he'd seen on that girl where staring back at him through the slightly fogged window, a cute blush adorning the face of the girl they belonged to. Naruto gulped, his face heating up as he took note of her lack of dress, especially her rather large-

BUMP.

Jiraiya took advantage of his god son's lack of focus and opened the window, simultaneously pushing the boy hard enough to send him careening through it to flip over the window sill and onto his back inside the room.

Naruto was seeing stars, he'd hit his head so hard.

As he sat up, he heard Jiraiya's geta click clacking as he made his escape. That was when Naruto realized where he was and just who was staring at him.

And how many.

He gulped, his face heating up and turning a shade of red so intense that it looked like he would explode. He backed up, out of instinct toward the window and pressed his back against the wall beneath it just as the blue haired girl crossed one arm over her breasts and used her free hand to cover her private area.

There were over twenty of them all staring at him.

Then he took notice of how most of them had stars in their eyes and were blushing. Then with one final word, it started what would forever, to Naruto, be remembered as 'The incident.'

"Kawaii!"

There was much pulling and pushing and grabbing and touching. The youngster learned a great deal that day before Kakashi decided it was time to reveal himself from his hiding place and save the poor half naked boy.

**_Flashback End_**

Jiraiya chortled with mirth as they made it to the gates of Konoha, his apprentice glaring at him.

"You should be happy that happened!"

"Shut up, Ero-sennin!"

Jiraiya flashed their two identification cards, causing the two chunin at the gate to pale and do a double take at just who was back as the two wandered off toward the Hokage tower. One chunin with wild brown hair turned to look at his counterpart and grinned.

"Things are going to get a whole lot more interesting now."

_**Meanwhile, outside of Konoha in an Unknown location**_

_****_A man wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it seemed to step out a solid wall so that he could kneel before a shadowed figure with strange eyes.

"Leader-sama... The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is back in Konoha. This information is only a few hours old, as I myself was there to witness it. he was traveling with Jiraiya of the Sannin."

A black silhouette with ripple patterened eyes cast his intense gaze upon a plant likeman with two halves of hisbody being different colors. he didnt speak for a moment before he urned his gaze back to the group of other nin, all shrouded in shadow. He spoke clearly, his voice not wavering at all as he fixed them all with his gaze, in turn.

"That is good. We will begin to move. Itachi, I want you and Kisame to monitor the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Do not let your presence be known, unless you have to. We do not need to capture him yet, and doing so would be unnecessarily problematic. He is the most powerful of the demons and will be the hardest to contain."

A raven haired nin wearing a cloak with red clouds covering it stepped forward, the blazing eyes of the Sharingan glaring over the high collar of the cloak as he spoke in response. As he stepped forward, a blue skinned man wearing the same cloak as the Sharingan user followed him, a very large sword wrapped in white bandages up to the hilt stepping forward with a grin on his face.

"As you wish, Leader-sama."

**AN: And that's it. Sorry this took so long to get out, I was kinda busy with some stuff and didn't have a lot of time to finish on time. Anyways, review and let me know if you find anything that's out of place or if you find any punctuation or grammatical errors. I didn't have a lot of time to proof. As always, The New Sage of Six Paths thanks you for reading and for your reviews.**


	5. The Faith Of The Broken

**AN: Well, this was supposed to get posted yesterday, but I had to take care a bit more than I planned to and so I was late. Sorry about that, but I did warn about that before hand. Anyway, I wrote this chapter to set up for some events later on, so if it feels like filler, I'm sorry. Here's chapter five of A New Demon, right after the disclaimer of course.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters from the show or manga. I also do not own spider-man or any of the characters from that show or comic. Thanks for reading.**

_**Chapter 5**_

_**The Faith of the Broken**_

It wasn't even an hour before our two Shinobi were back in the village before someone started trying to ruin the nostalgia. A chunin, thinking himself far too sneaky for his own good, turned and murmured something to a woman near him, his eyes casting a dark look that Jiraiya caught and scowled at.

"Look, the demon kid's back. I don't even understand why Jiraiya-sama would bother teaching him; he'll just betray the village and kill us all as soon as it gets the chance..."

The woman nodded, glaring at the young blond who was, seemingly, oblivious to the things being said and the glares he was getting.

"He should be dead, but somehow he keeps living through all of the attacks we organize… We should take this to the council."

A few feet away, Naruto was walking with his eyes closed and his arms crossed under his cloak. The murmuring of the crowd was not lost on him, and it made him angry to know that they still hated him, even when he'd done nothing wrong.

He was a hero.

Inside the seal, Natsumi rolled her eyes at the stupidity that ran rampant around the place. It was like these people weren't ninja at all, but something so sinister and mind numbingly foolish… something like…

A sheep.

A grin formed on her features, a twinkle in her eye making her thoughts easier to understand even without vocalization.

Sheep were tasty.

Meanwhile, Naruto had just turned a corner when a rock flew straight at his blind spot. His reaction was blinding, his head tilting to the left and out of the line of fire just as he lashed out with his left arm to dispense a silken strand of some unnamed material that struck the still mobile rock in mid flight.

That was when he grinned.

With a twitch of his wrist, the rock went sailing right back the way it came, his Rinnegan easily tracking the blinding motion back to some idiotic civilian man whom was now clutching his, probably shattered, throat as he writhed on the ground.

"Moron."

Jiraiya snickered at this, and was still having a fairly good chortle as they entered the Hokage tower and ascended the staircase into the Sandaime's office. Naruto kicked open the door, ignoring the Hokage's sputtering and outraged assistant.

He should have knocked.

The Sandaime was, after all, a very superb ninja and this was why it took every ounce of training in the blond to lift his right arm up to cover his eye just as a kunai entered his immediate personal space. The Kunai shattered upon impact with his cloak covered arm and peppered the wall with the metallic debris created from the exchange.

Jiraiya had moved the hell out of the way, of course.

The Sandaime chuckled, a sweat drop on his face as the cloaked blond arched an eyebrow at the aged elder.

"Jumpy much?"

The Hokage cleared his throat, covering his mouth with a fist to do so while he leveled a look on Naruto that told him to shut up and get to why he was here.

He was clearly annoyed at being interrupted so suddenly and so… loudly. Then he actually got a look at the boy, his eyes lingering on his eyes.

"Jiraiya…"

The white haired sage scratched the back of his head and ran through a short set of seals, pressing his palm to the floor after he closed the door. Naruto moved to take a seat, his stare a bit unnerving to the older ninja due to his Rinnegan and how he just didn't blink.

"Explain why he has those eyes and his status please."

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes, much to the secret delight of Sarutobi.

"You got it, old man."

**_Meanwhile, somewhere in Konoha._**

"The Kyuubi has returned. What are your orders, sir?"

The bandaged man gave no outward expression of any kind as he was relayed this information. He stood and beckoned for the other to stand as well, his voice a dull lilting drawl as he turned to walk out of his Office.

"Observe him. I want to know what team he's put on. That is all."

The kneeling individual stood and backed out of the room, leaving Shimura Danzo to contemplate his next move.

"The Uchiha would be a likely candidate for my plans if the Kyuubi jinchuuriki becomes unattainable. I'll just have him killed and the Kyuubi resealed for my use."

As an afterthought, he spoke calmly.

"Mizuki, come. I have need of you."

**_The Hokage tower_**

"And that's how it happened, though I think the Gaki should tell you how skilled he is, as he did most of the work. It was like I didn't even have to teach him."

Jiraiya cast a glance at the young blond, sitting there playing with a Kunai and looking positively bored out of his skull.

"Naruto, where do you feel you are in terms of skill level?"

Naruto sighed and stood, his arms crossing over his chest under his cloak.

"I can't be sure until I fight someone."

Jiraiya wanted to laugh at the little blonds antics. He knew full well he could fight at a level beyond what many people considered normal for his age, and even then Naruto pushed the envelope into a whole new area of unrestrained.

He was a powerhouse, in his own right.

"Jiraiya?"

The white haired sage sighed and mentally shook his head.

"Put him against the rookie of the year from the Academy this year. You were going to enroll him for the exam, right? Just do that and have his last test be a spar against the rookie of the year. That sound alright to you?"

Sarutobi nodded and picked up a pen so that he could sign a document, which he stowed in his Hokage robes, before standing and walking around his desk to stand beside Naruto.

"I'm going to take him to the Academy; I take it you'll be in the village for a few days?"

The white haired sage nodded, lifting his foot up onto the window sill as he opened it.

"You got it. I'll see you around, kid! Try not to have too much fun without me."

Naruto grinned and nodded.

"See you later, Ero-sennin."

And, with that, the perverted Sage was gone. Naruto looked up at his surrogate grandfather and crossed his arms, his expression somewhat annoyed.

"Let's go."

The aged leader sighed, feeling a bit dejected that his charge didn't fully trust him, still. Setting that aside for now, he teleported them to the academy in a swirl of leaves.

**_The Academy_**

A brown haired chunin with a scar across his nose grew a tick mark on his head just before his head swelled and he bellowed with a tremendous amount of volume at the class of kids before him to shut up and settle down.

They did, comically fast, too.

As he crossed his arms and got ready to begin his explanations and the rules for the Genin Exams, a knock on the door to his room stopped him and prompted him to walk over and open it. He was pleasantly surprised when he was met with the smiling face of the Hokage and the bored scowl of a younger blond kid with ringed eyes.

"Hokage-sama, what a surprise to see you here! What brings you here of all places?"

The Sandaime simply smiled and entered as the chunin stepped aside to let him in, a grandfatherly hand settling on the young man's shoulder before he turned to address the class as a whole.

"Hello to you all. I'm here to introduce a late student to your class this year. He was out of the village until this very morning and will be joining you all to take part in your Genin Exam with you. Please treat him with respect and be kind to him. His name is Uzumaki Naruto."

The older man gave the suddenly very shy blond a gentle nudge on the shoulder to get him to speak to the class or move for that matter. Naruto, for his part, couldn't figure out why he was so god damned nervous all of a sudden.

It was as if he was scared of being judged again.

When no one said anything, Naruto just sighed and walked to the nearest open seat to him and plopped into it. It just so happened to be next to a raven haired kid with rather pale skin and dark eyes. While Naruto was taking his seat, Iruka and the Hokage were going over something in hushed tones, the aged man handing a document to the scarred chunin before he turned and smiled at the class.

"Well, I wish you all good luck on your exam and hope to see you all when I'm giving missions to the teams this year. Iruka-kun, they're all yours."

And with that the Leaf elder was gone. Iruka turned and sweatdropped when he noticed that all the females in the class were glaring at the kid, Naruto, because he was sitting next to the Uchiha.

With a sigh, he got started.

"Alright, well, the Genin Exam will be a bit different than the usual this year. Instead of the Kawarimi, Bunshin and Henge tests that are the Academy standard, there will be a Taijutsu spar for everyone in the class amongst everyone here. Then we'll have a weapons exam to see just how much you've all been practicing and then a Ninjutsu test where you'll be allowed to perform a Jutsu of your choice for me to grade. The last test will be a written exam. It'll be graded on a scale that combines the averages of each of your tests together for your final grade. Does anyone have any questions?"

No one spoke, but he noticed that the new kid was barely awake.

He sighed and crossed his arms.

"Alright then, everyone outside so we can begin the Taijutsu portion of the exam."

**_Outside_**

Once they were all outside, the scarred instructor issued them all random numbers and began to pull those random numbers out of a kunai pouch at random. The matches were all fairly boring, a pineapple haired boy squaring off against a pink haired girl then a blond haired girl with her hair in a ponytail squared off against a portly kid with spirals on his cheeks.

Meanwhile, Naruto seemed to be asleep under a tree.

The pineapple haired kid took a seat next to Naruto, making the blond peek open an eye to sleepily peer at the equally lazy looking kid. Not a word was said between the two of them, but each one could appreciate the need to be quiet and sleep.

Just as Naruto closed his eyes, the next match began. It was a white eyed indigo hared girl facing off with a kid with a puppy on his head and some red markings on his cheeks.

The blond girl with the ponytail walked up to the lazy looking kid lying next to Naruto and did the one thing that Naruto hated more than anything. It was his single most hated pet peeve, and it was like nails on a chalkboard for him.

It was worse because he every sense was augmented by his still unnamed counterpart and his previous house guest, Natsumi. That was why he was jarred so badly when the blond haired girl screamed at the other boy.

It also didn't help she was standing right over him when she screamed.

"Wake up Shika!"

WHAM.

Naruto shot into a sitting position so fast, flailing, that as he did his right hand caught her right in her under developed boob and knocked the wind out of her. Naruto gazed around himself stupidly for a few moments before he rubbed his eyes, not noticing the blond kunoichi currently rolling around in the dirt trying to make her abused tit stop hurting.

Meanwhile, a few of the other kids in the class were laughing candidly behind their hands as the new kid just lay back down and tried to drift off.

The girl he'd just surprised wasn't going to let that happen, however. She marched right over to the blond, all spitfire and rage as she lifted her foot to bring it down on his head just as his eyes opened. The Rinnegan glared up at her, his silent gaze enough to make her stop. Her eyes widened and she began to hyperventilate, his stare unwavering.

In her mind's eye, she was seeing him stopping her and all that things he could do to her afterwards. He could break her. He could maim her. He could completely end her if he wanted to, but somehow she knew he wouldn't.

It terrified her to see these things, and at the same time…. It excited her.

When she was suddenly not being assaulted by images of her being punished for hurting him over something so petty, she lost her balance and her foot landed right beside Naruto's head.

The pineapple haired boy stared back and forth between the two in a curious fashion, from the girls flushed face and slightly heavy breathing to Naruto's measured stare.

"Troublesome. What did you want, Ino?"

When Ino looked away from Naruto, to her friend Shikamaru, Naruto rolled over to go back to sleep. Just as Ino opened her mouth to tell him it was just to stop him from being too lazy again, she was interrupted by Naruto's number being called. Rising, Naruto dusted himself off and sighed, lamenting at his lack of sleep, before he trudged over to the staging area for the Taijutsu exam.

He stood just shy of the center of the 'ring' and crossed his arms, his eyes closed. He wanted this to be over as quickly as possible. He grimaced when the next number was called and a chorus of girls screaming and cheering erupted around him.

God, he hated it when people were loud.

He watched the pale kid with the black eyes step calmly out of the crowd to stand across from him with a bored expression on his face. Naruto nodded to the boy, but grew a tick mark when the boy didn't even acknowledge him.

"Uchiha Sasuke versus Uzumaki Naruto, Taijutsu only, please. Please bow to me."

Naruto bowed to the proctor, Iruka, just as Sasuke did the same.

"Bow to one another."

Naruto bowed, Sasuke bowing only about half as much as Naruto, which caused Naruto to grow even more annoyed.

"Hajime!"

Sasuke settled into his family's Interceptor fist just as Naruto gave a funny little spin so that his cloak fanned out around him and obscured everything other than a bit of his legs and his head. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and the crowd of girls all sighed, dreamily. Once Naruto finally settled and his cloak once again returned to being draped around his shoulders, he simply stood there and waited.

"Those eyes… They won't work on me."

Sasuke looked infuriated but didn't comment, his Sharingan glaring at the blond standing before him. Naruto grinned and shot forward, while elsewhere a pink haired girl face palmed at something that only she knew about.

"That blond kid is fairly stupid, huh? He's charging right at Sasuke-kun without even trying to think of a plan!"

Ino, the blond with the ponytail, just cast a glance at the pinkette but didn't say anything to the contrary. Shikamaru simply sighed and rubbed his eyes as he stepped up beside the blue eyed girl.

"Troublesome… I think he already has a plan."

Naruto came to a skidding halt, rotating his body so swiftly that his cloak flared up right into the raven haired boy's field of vision. Sasuke tried to back pedal, not liking that he couldn't see the other boy's body behind the billowing cloak. The minute he began to retreat, Naruto knew he had him. His cloak parted at the seam as the blonde's fist rocketed right toward the Sharingan users gut, his intent clear.

Sasuke was not to be underestimated, however.

The minute Naruto moved to attack, the Sharingan moved to predict where it would land in that split second. This was why Naruto was so surprised when he was blocked and countered, his feet catching his body as he landed in a crouch, rubbing his shoulder slightly.

Pesky Sharingan.

Naruto stooped in the dirt and grinned, his cloak hiding his body from view as he spoke.

"You're pretty good, Uchiha."

Sasuke simply smirked at what he thought was praise. Naruto stood and rocketed forward yet again, his feet carrying in swiftly into the close range of melee combat just as Sasuke dropped back into his stance once again. Naruto tested his prediction, his reaction time and his speed and found that the boy was actually very skilled with his eyes.

A grin formed on the whiskered blondes face.

As he ducked a sweeping back fist from the Uchiha, our blonde Genin hopeful swept his feet around for the Uchiha's ankles and wasn't surprised when the boy quickly back pedaled out of his reach. Naruto did a hand stand and clipped the Uchiha in the arm as he blocked his follow up kick.

That was when Naruto struck.

As he was blocked and, as expected, the Uchiha went to push his leg to knock him off balance the boy pushed up and off the ground with his hands and used the momentum from the raven haired boys push to propel himself sideways while he lifted his hand in a punching motion towards the Uchiha's midsection.

As expected, he was blocked, and as he followed through in mid-air with a knee to the boys face Naruto was again blocked.

His free hand that he'd held back with wasn't seen because the Uchiha was too busy looking out for all the other incoming attacks, so he didn't see when the blonde tossed a handful of dirt into his eyes from his blind spot.

Naruto tucked into a roll and skidded a bit as he steadied himself. The Uchiha was wiping his eyes, growling in discomfort as he did so. With a grin, Naruto launched himself forward and struck like a cobra, his right fist being buried into the raven haired boys gut while his left followed through with a hook that sent the pale boy spinning into the dirt.

The Uchiha glared up at the blonde, scrambling to his feet with a scowl on his face.

"Stop holding back."

Naruto's grin faltered and he sighed, shaking his head. This guy was something else, already picking up on the fact that he was holding back just by watching him.

"You too, Uchiha."

Sasuke dropped back into his Interceptor stance and glared at the blonde with his Sharingan still active. Naruto lowered his cloaks collar and tapped a seal stitched into its fabric, his chakra unfolding from its confines in a weight so oppressive that Sasuke stiffened and fought to remain standing.

It was like he was moving underwater.

The bystanders all struggled to remain standing, some of them even sinking to their knees as his Chakra settled heavily around them. The pink haired girl stared at the blond in awe, her mouth dropping open.

Ino felt like crying, his chakra was so dense. She'd almost pissed him off!

"This seal turns my chakra capacity into a center of oppressive gravity. The more chakra I have, the stronger the gravity is around me. Remember, you asked for this Uchiha."

As Naruto got his chakra under control, Sasuke breathed a sigh and blinked. When his eyes opened, he was rooted to the spot, too shocked to do much else. His Sharingan predicted the movement to happen next, but he was too slow to react to it.

Naruto came to a stop just as the Uchiha did, his body having tumbled end over end until he skidded in the dirt like a rag doll. Sitting up, his bruised jaw protested and he glared at the blond before him. He was staring at him; those odd ripple patterned eyes glaring right back at him, fearless.

There was a stirring in him and he felt like he knew him from somewhere, this blond boy, this Uzumaki Naruto.

He felt like he should know exactly who he was, but he didn't know him before today, he was sure of it. Sasuke hauled himself to his feet and swayed his vision swimming.

He felt a hand settle on his shoulder and as he turned to look, he saw the eyes of the blonde just as he double over from the fist in his gut, sinking to his knees as he dry heaved and gasped, clutching his stomach.

"Call it."

Naruto stooped and offered the injured boy his hand and frowned when the Uchiha brushed him off and stood on his own, onyx colored eyes glaring harshly at him.

"This isn't over, I promise."

Naruto scoffed and turned to walk away.

"The test is, though."

Naruto folded his arms behind his head and sighed. It seemed like whenever he went anywhere he'd make enemies faster than he'd ever make friends. He walked right by a group of students with their mouths hanging wide open. Iruka himself was stunned into silence, his pen dangling from a limp hand.

"How in the… He's so fast! I barely even saw him! Anyway, err... Winner is Uzumaki Naruto. Recess then we'll finish the tests."

Ino watched as the boy, blonde as the sun and as mysterious as the moon, took a seat beside her friend Shikamaru and proceeded to go back to sleep. She turned to say something to the pink haired girl beside her but found her missing, that was when she saw the mass of pink steadily stomping her way over to the blonde enigma.

Ino paled and scrambled to reach her before that guy tore her to pieces.

"Sakura, no!"

CRACK.

Naruto groaned and rubbed his head, his eyes squinting shut while his eyes watered from the pain in his head.

"Itai!"

Sakura crossed her arms and glared down at him as he rubbed his head, feeling rather victorious.

"That's what you get for cheating! You know Sasuke-kun would've won had you not thrown dirt in his eyes!"

Naruto was still nursing his head, trying to figure out why he got hit. He looked up, glaring hotly at the pink haired girl, just as Ino reached them.

"What are you talking about? There's no such thing as cheating you dumbass! We're supposed to be training to be ninja! Ninja lie, steal and cheat their way to their objectives! We do whatever it takes!"

Naruto got to his feet and Sakura had the good grace enough to look sheepish. Then she grew a tick mark when she realized she'd been called a dumbass.

"And let's not forget that I was holding back through half the fight! I held back for his benefit, no less. He's an ass, though, didn't even acknowledge that I'm stronger than him."

Sakura sputtered and opened her mouth to yell at him again, but was silenced when Naruto simply lifted his hand up to silence her.

"By the way, if you ever hit me like that again… I'll kill you."

Sakura's outrage died on her lips as she paled, her head being nodded rapidly.

Anybody with strength enough to fight Sasuke was strong indeed. Naruto turned his gaze on Ino, causing the blonde girl to gain a pink tint to her cheeks. This made Naruto quirk a brow, wondering just what got him this kind of reaction from her.

"Your name is Ino?"

She jumped when he spoke to her, nodding as if she were afraid he'd tear her in half if she spoke out of turn.

"It was nice to meet you. I'm sorry about earlier, you surprised me is all."

Naruto stiffened, feeling eyes on the back of his head as he spoke to his fellow blond. Turning his head, slightly, he caught sight of the indigo haired girl with white eyes smiling and looking away as he caught her staring.

That was just weird.

"Seems like Hinata might have a little crush on you."

Naruto turned to look at Ino, who 'eeped' and looked down at her feet. Sakura was floored, the ever bossy and always chatty Yamanaka Ino being silenced and cowed in the presence of some guy she'd just met?

Completely unheard of.

Absolutely mind boggling.

Blackmail material.

"Look, I'm sorry I roughed him up and for you thinking that I cheated… But if that's how you're going to act when something unfair happens, then you should change careers. Being a Ninja isn't a joke, people die every day for things much less honorable in our line of work, and I'm sure Sasuke knew that before and after our spar."

Sakura's head hung. She knew he was right, and worse still she'd wanted to be a ninja just to make Sasuke notice her. It wasn't working so far, but maybe that was because she wasn't going about her training the right way.

Even Ino had sense enough to blush in embarrassment. He'd hit the nail right on the head, whether he knew it or not.

Naruto, to his credit, took note of how their expressions changed and assumed that they were thinking about why they'd become Ninja in the first place. Folding his arms behind his head, he closed his eyes and sighed.

"I know you must be a Yamanaka, Ino. You're a part of the only clan in Konoha that had blonde hair. I don't know you, Sakura, so I can't really give my two cents about you without knowing your clan. Anyways, the reason I asked is because I was wondering why you two decided to become ninja. If it's personal, you don't have to answer."

Ino nodded, not missing a beat. She wanted to have this guy on her side in the future, because she knew he would be someone great soon.

It never hurt to have powerful friends, right?

"Well, my family is full of Ninja because of our ability to enter the minds of others. I'm following in my father's footsteps so I can become clan head one day."

Naruto nodded, liking her reasoning enough to not comment on it. He turned to look at Sakura, finding her wringing her battle dress in a nervous fashion and staring at her feet.

"What's wrong, Sakura?"

The pinkette jumped and her gaze flicked to the blonde boy standing in front of her, his eyes curious.

"I… joined to make Sasuke notice me…"

Naruto sighed and resisted the urge to scowl. That was probably the worst reason for her to have joined the ninja corps.

"And has he?"

Sakura looked confused for a moment, her eyebrow lifting as he stared at him.

"I'm guessing he hasn't noticed or cared."

That made her frown and her gaze lower; the nervous wringing of her already wrinkled battle dress growing a bit more intense. Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head. She couldn't fathom why she even cared what he thought; why she wanted him to understand her. She didn't even know him and he didn't know her.

"I don't think he'll notice you if you keep fawning all over him. Plus, while I'm not trying to make you angry, it doesn't look like you train all that much. I watched your spar and was surprised at how little you knew beyond what is initially taught here."

Sakura felt like smashing him over the head for belittling her, but she did acknowledge that he'd said he wasn't trying to hurt her feelings. This made her wonder if maybe he was right.

And if he'd help her out.

"Ino is a bit better off than you, but not by much. Why don't you try doing this for you? Make a choice for yourself and not for anyone else. I promise you'll end up better off."

Ino scowled but didn't say anything, her arms crossing over her chest.

"Would you help me train, then?"

Ino's head whipped around to face her rival for Sasuke so fast her neck cracked. She was asking for help now? Ino competitive streak made her place her hands on her hips and nod in Naruto's direction.

"Me too."

Naruto's brow furrowed. He didn't want to be a babysitter, but he knew these girls really needed it. They could die if they didn't get some proper training.

Quickly.

Pulling his arms away from his head, the blond shinobi hopeful nodded. Then he issued an ultimatum.

"If you start slacking off I won't help you anymore, and it should go without saying that if you question what I teach you that the same applies."

Both girls nodded, a bit concerned that he was already being so strict. Just as Sakura opened her mouth to speak, the bell in the academy rang and she turned to look just as Iruka stepped out of the doors to collect them all for their next exam. Naruto stepped around the two girls, knowing they'd follow.

They had a lot of work to do.

**_Academy training grounds, a few minutes later._**

"Alright, let's get started. This is the weapons portion of the test. This is where you'll be graded on your accuracy and throwing strength. First up will be…"

That was when Naruto stopped paying attention, his eyes drooping closed. He was leaning against a fence, his head bowed as he slept. Beside him, Ino did a double take when she looked over at him. He was out like a snuffed candle!

"How can anyone go to sleep that fast?"

She heard a light snore and turned to her other side to see Shikamaru mimicking Naruto, making Sakura sweat drop. Sakura cast a glance at Naruto's sleeping form and quirked an eyebrow. Cocking her head she spied something that neither she nor Ino had taken notice of. He had scars on his face.

Peculiar scars, at that.

"Piggy."

Ino scowled at the long time nickname from her best friend turned rival, but turned to give her the attention she wanted. She found the pinkette staring curiously at Naruto, even bending a little bit so she could take a look at his face as he slept.

"I think he's cute too, forehead, but don't you think you're getting kind of close?"

Sakura's head snapped up so fast she almost hit Naruto, her sea foam colored eyes glaring hotly at her blond friend.

"Shut up, piggy. I was looking at the scars on his face. They're really weird."

Ino quirked an eyebrow but moved to check them out as well, noting that he did have some pretty interesting scars on his face. They were perfectly symmetrical to the ones on the other side of his face and they almost looked like whiskers.

He looked like fox, in a way.

The blond found that she kind of liked it. She squashed those thoughts quickly, righting herself as she shrugged her shoulders and turned to look just as the boy with the puppy and the red marking on his face finished up his test.

"What's the big deal? He's got scars, it's not like he looks butt ugly or something because of them."

Sakura went to respond but stopped when she was called for her test. She stood and wandered through the crowd just as Naruto's right eye peeked open to watch.

Sakura prepared to make her throw, setting her face in a scowl of determination. She whipped her arms in a diagonal downward slash as she released all of her Kunai at once, her bottom lip being worried as she did.

She'd thrown five, and of those five only three hit their mark. The other two had hit the targets dead on, but didn't have enough force to stick into the wood. Iruka nodded to her and recorded her score.

Sakura frowned but didn't comment, wandering back over to sit by Naruto and Ino with a depressed air about her. Ino tried to console her, but couldn't really do much because she knew she wasn't much better. Neither of them noticed Naruto's eye close.

A few more people went, the time passing slowly for those who had to wait to take their test. Naruto noted that most of the kids were average. There were a few gems, like the indigo haired girl-Hinata- who had stepped up to take her test and passed with very little trouble.

She would be deadly in the future, if she could get over her meek nature.

Another noteworthy test taker was the boy he'd met earlier, Shikamaru. He'd learn that the boy was a Nara and was actually pretty good. The only thing that hindered him was laziness. The pineapple haired boy had thrown his Kunai with such laziness that he only used one hand and he hadn't even looked at where he was aiming for more than two seconds.

Naruto was surprised, pleasantly, when he hit all of his targets.

Then he promptly went and lay under a tree to go to sleep. Finally it was Ino's turn and he watched, discreetly, as she stepped up and assumed her throwing stance. She took her time, lining her targets up and then unleashed her Kunai in much the same way that Sakura had but with much better results.

She hit each target dead on with barely enough force to make them stick. One of them, dangerously close to falling out of the wood, but didn't and he took note of how she sighed and looked to Iruka whom was already writing down her score.

They had a fuck ton of work to do, after this.

When Naruto was called he stood up and trudged over to Iruka who nodded and smiled, waiting for the blond to display what skills he had. Sasuke, leaning against a tree, finally looked up to see what the blond boy could really do. He was good in Taijutsu, but this was where he shined.

Naruto lifted the ends of his cloak, showing the attire he was wearing underneath as he turned to face Iruka. Iruka stood there, stupidly, wondering what the hell the kid was doing. Then he realized that he wasn't carrying a weapon pouch.

He didn't have any weapons on him.

"Naruto, did you forget you weapon pouch at home? I have some spare Kunai in the cl-"

Naruto turned and walked back to where he'd been sitting, his cloak fanning around him at the sudden movement. Behind him, the wobbling posts where the targets were hung began to still and Iruka stared at them as if he'd never seen one before. At the center of each post was a black bar about as thin as a tanto and as long as a kunai half buried into the wood of each of the targets deep enough to impale the posts the targets were secured on

Iruka hadn't even seen him move.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was staring flabbergasted at what he had seen, Sharingan spinning. The boy had just forced them out of his skin, as if everyone could do it. What the fuck was that all about? He turned his Sharingan enhanced gaze on Naruto and glared. He was good at throwing weapons, too, it seemed.

As Sasuke stepped up to take his test, he sighed. He knew he was going to ace this test, but he didn't like following that yellow haired loser.

It made him look weaker than him.

Sasuke lashed out with his left hand, flinging two kunai up and over the two centered targets while his right hand flicked two more up at a sharper angle so that they would intercept the previous two and change their trajectory. Blurring away from his spot, he moved to stand beside Iruka, whom was already looking at him and writing, flinging his final kunai.

It happened so fast that most people missed it, his final kunai striking each and every one of the previously thrown kunai with such precision that as they came into contact with one another, they were knocked off of their previous course to meet with a different target. The separate 'thunks' of metal on wood made him relax his stance. He'd hit all of his targets.

"Good job, Sasuke."

The fan girls went wild, and Naruto covered his ears with his hands as he sat against the fence between the two, oddly quiet, girls. Sakura giggled at Naruto's antics while Ino chuckled herself. Things were going to be interesting from now on.

**_Classroom._**

Naruto gave a light snore as he slept with his arms folded under his head, Ino and Sakura sweat dropping as they stared at their new blond… friend?

Yes, friend.

Iruka, with a tick mark on his head, stalked over to the blond and bellowed so loudly that Naruto reflexes kicked in and he shot out of his chair to crouch on the ceiling like a spider, his head whipping this way and that.

Iruka could only stare, face palming after a moment or two before he turned to go back to his position at the front of the class. Naruto dropped back down into his seat and scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish.

"Alright, we're going to have the written exam before the Ninjutsu exam so that you guys won't have to come back in and get your things when we're done here. When I call your name, come and get your test and return to your seat. Do not start until I tell you to, or you'll be failed on the spot."

One by one each student was called, and once everyone had their tests they were told they could start. Naruto answered all of his questions and went back to sleep, Sakura finishing just a few minutes after Naruto did. If anyone had looked, Shikamaru and Sasuke were already done and some of the others were finishing up as well.

The kid with the red markings on his face-kiba- had an expression on his face that made it look like he hated taking these kinds of tests.

After about half an hour, the time limit was reached and Iruka called for pencils down. He walked around, collecting each test from every student. As he made his way to his desk, he began to speak.

"I'll be grading these, so I'll give you all an hour to get some lunch and relax before the last test. "

Everyone got up and began to file out of the classroom, chattering amongst themselves with plans to either go home and get food or to go a restaurant. Sakura got up, with Ino trailing behind her, following behind the mob of students. She looked around, spotting everyone she knew.

Everyone except Naruto.

The boy was dead to the world, sleeping making him miss the entire bit about getting lunch. Ino walked back over to his desk and quirked a brow, rolling her eyes as she shook Naruto awake.

"Naruto, we're having another break. Sakura and I are going to get some food. Do you want to come?"

Naruto peered up at her stupidly for a moment before he wiped his eyes and squinted at her, making the blond girl blush. He looked adorable when he was just waking up! Sakura stood by the door, tapping her foot while she waited.

"Sure."

**_An hour later, Academy training grounds_**.

Naruto was finally wide awake and smiling, his expression akin to a cat that caught a canary. Ino and Sakura, on the other hand, looked as if they were likely to murder him than ask him what kind of Jutsu he knew.

The reason for this was because Ino and Sakura didn't know any Jutsu aside from the ones taught at the Academy. Ino had her clan Jutsu, but she would need a volunteer and Sakura didn't know any real Jutsu that she could show off.

She sighed and Naruto looked to her, taking note of her melancholy expression.

"What's wrong with you two? You look like someone kicked your cat."

Sakura rubbed her left arm just above the elbow, her gaze on the ground. Ino mirrored her, but didn't look as depressed as Sakura, knowing she could just use her clan technique to scrape out a decent grade.

"Well… I don't know any Jutsu outside of the three basic Jutsu taught here."

Naruto chuckled and Sakura resisted the urge to belt him across the face for it.

"Why are you laughing at me? You're a je-"

She blinked, finding Naruto's hand covering her mouth. He didn't look mad; in fact he had a smile on his face as his gaze lingered on her for a moment.

"You've practiced these three techniques until you can do them in your sleep, right?"

Sakura blushed faintly under his gaze, and the fact that as his hand drew away from her mouth, his fingers caressed her cheek.

"Good. I can help you show off just how much you've mastered them and maybe get you a better grade than you think."

Sakura nodded and Naruto's rippled gaze was turned on Ino, his voice playful and amused.

"You need help too, don't you?"

She hated how he knew these things without even trying. She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'll help out, then. I can't have you two failing. I might get stuck on Sasuke's team alone."

This made Sakura scowl and glare, and Ino chuckle faintly. She liked Sasuke and all, but she wasn't blind to the fact that the boy didn't even have them on his radar, let alone seem like he wanted a girl right now.

She knew better than to throw her pearls before swine, so to speak.

Naruto looked up as Ino was called and nodded to her as she moved to stand in the center of the ring they'd taken their Taijutsu exam in. Iruka smiled pleasantly at her and waited patiently for her to begin.

Ino performed a single hand sign, closing her eyes for a moment to focus her chakra.

**"Shintenshin No Jutsu!"**

Iruka moved to catch the blond girl as she fell over, just as Naruto came running up to him and grinned. Iruka sweat dropped as Naruto did a girlish twirl, his cloak fanning around him as he posed and gave a flex.

A moment later, Ino was sitting up and Naruto was blinking as if he was waking up from a deep sleep. He spied Ino in the arms of Iruka and offered her a hand so she could stand up. Once she did, he sighed and glowered at her.

"You promised you wouldn't make me look stupid, Ino."

The blond girl simply breezed by him, smiling to herself. Naruto followed her back into the crowd, mumbling about troublesome girls and payback schemes. Sakura, to her part, didn't openly laugh when Ino had made Naruto look so… feminine.

But she did laugh when he wasn't looking.

A few people went after her, displaying some rather interesting Jutsu. The Inuzuka boy had shown off some intense looking technique that effectively turned him and his puppy into identical clones and had proceeded to destroy a poor tree. The fat kid with the spirals on his cheeks had demolished a training dummy with a technique that turned him into a spinning mass of destruction.

Shikamaru had taken control of Iruka with his Shadow possession technique and had made him wave at the group before canceling the Jutsu and walking off again. Hinata demonstrated her ability to manipulate chakra by having kunai thrown at her body so that she could deflect them with random bursts of controlled chakra that knocked them off course.

Sasuke was the one that was the most impressive, displaying his chakra control and capacity by belching forth a fireball that was nearly as big as the tree he'd burned to ash.

Finally, Sakura's name was called and she walked over to the scarred Chunin, fidgeting a bit. A look from Naruto made her nod and helped to calm her nerves. The pinkette performed the hand sign for the traditional Henge, prompting a plume of smoke that erupted around her. As the smoke cleared, an exact copy of Naruto, down to the very last detail, stood before everyone.

Iruka smiled and nodded, but was stopped from writing her score by the Henged Sakura turned her backside to the real Naruto and patting her bottom, giving him the finger.

Iruka sweat dropped and panicked when the real Naruto stooped and scooped up a rock. He wound up and let the small stone fly with enough force to penetrate the bark of a tree and embed itself into the wood. And it did.

Right after it passed through Sakura, whom was still taunting the real Naruto. Iruka beamed, seeing through the deception for what it was. Sakura had Kawarimi'd and created a Bunshin of Naruto that continued to taunt the blond. The pinkette came out from behind Naruto, smiling cheekily as Iruka recorded her score. She moved to sit beside Ino once again and Naruto was called, prompting him to step into the center of the ring. Iruka smiled, patiently waiting for what was sure to be a very interesting display, if what he'd seen so far was any indication.

"Whenever you're ready, Naruto."

Naruto nodded and got down to brass tacks, his hands coming up to his chest to form into a cross shaped hand sign. A moment later and two plumes of smoke erupted on either side of him. Iruka looked pleasantly surprised.

"That's very good Naruto, that technique is pretty difficult to use."

The scarred man went to write Naruto's score, but stopped when he noticed that the blond and his two clones each went into different sets of seals at varying speeds. AS he watched, Iruka took note that the hand signs were timed so that each one of these techniques would go off right after the other. The original leapt back and behind his two clones, being that he was in the center of the group of three just as the two clones finished their hand signs.

**"Fuuton: Oodama Daitoppa!"**

**"Katon: Goukakyu No Jutsu!"**

Seconds after the release of the clones techniques the original finished his hand signs and slammed his palm on the ground, a spider web of seals branching out around him as a third plume of smoke, larger than the others from his clones obscured him from view.

**"Kuchiyose: Gama Abura!"**

The result of this sequence of events led to many dropped jaws and wide eyes. The smoke was blown away from the sudden wind produced by the supped up wind Jutsu coming into contact with a rather large fireball, the flames going from orange red to white blue in just under a second as the speed of the fireball increased. Meanwhile a six foot tall orange toad wearing battle armor spewed forth a thick stream of oil that sped into the heart of the fireball and fed it to make it grow in size.

The flames were so hot that when it hit a grouping of trees, they were steamrolled and turned to ash. The impact shook the ground and dug out a trench for about ten feet before the flames were doused by the soil falling into the trench.

Iruka was stunned, his mouth hanging open so wide that it looked like his jaw had come unhinged. Ino, Sakura, even Sasuke were completely floored by the display of power from the blond boy. They all watched him as he walked back to his spot between Ino and Sakura, taking a seat as his toad companion went up in smoke and his clones went to go and repair the damage the technique had caused.

Sakura turned her astonished gaze on the blonde, Ino practically foaming at the mouth from the display of power from the boy sitting beside her. She had made up her mind now, and Naruto didn't have a say at all in the matter.

He was hers.

Iruka cleared his throat, coming back to his senses as he turned to address the class.

"That's it everyone, wait here while I tally all the scores. Consider it a break, I guess."

Iruka walked back into the academy building, and the crowd broke into groups of people going to do whatever they felt like doing for the time being. Ino smiled at Sakura, her excitement obvious.

"How'd you get so strong?"

The new voice made Naruto look up at the raven haired boy standing over him. He sighed, standing.

"I trained."

Sasuke scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. He wanted that kind of power, he needed it.

"Teach me."

Naruto scowled, not liking how he was being ordered around. He crossed his arms over his chest, and fixed a gaze on the Uchiha that made him look away, unnerved.

"You're fairly strong as it is. Why do you need more power?"

Sasuke turned his Sharingan enhanced eyes on Naruto and answered truthfully. He didn't want to be distrusted, and he certainly wanted this guy to trust him enough to teach him some of those high level techniques. The only reason he was even going this route was because the blondes sealing speed was so fast that he couldn't use his Sharingan to copy the techniques.

It was infuriating.

"I need power to avenge my family. And to revive the Uchiha clan."

Sasuke was floored as Naruto took a step toward him, settling a hand on his shoulder. With the words Naruto spoke next, he felt like he was truly being understood, that he could finally get started on his plans.

And for the first time, he felt like he didn't have to use anyone to get what he wanted.

"I'll teach you, Sasuke, but only if you can promise to not let this consume you. I know what it feels like to not have the people there that are precious to you. I know what it feels like to be betrayed and hurt, and I want you to know that you don't have to be alone."

Sasuke turned his head away as he fought the tears that threatened to spill. It was as if he had known him all his life, as if he'd been through exactly what he had and was trying to save him from the darkness.

Sasuke saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and he took his first step towards it for the first time in a long time.

**Techniques used:**

**Fuuton: Oodama Daitoppa/ Wind Release: Massive Great Breakthrough Technique.**

**Katon: Goukakyuu No Jutsu/ Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique.**

**Shintenshin No Jutsu/ Mind Transfer Technique.**

**Henge/ Transformation.**

**Bunshin/ Clone.**

**Kawarimi/ Substitution.**

**Kawarimi**

**An: I'm not too sure if I got the translations right for the techniques I used and listed here, but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Anyways, this is chapter five and it's my longest one yet. I hope you all enjoy it and, please, comment so i know what I need to change to make this story more enjoyable. As always, I'm the New Sage of Six Paths and I'm thanking you for reading my latest chapter.**


	6. The faith of an Avenger

**AN: Well, last chapter was embarrassing to me. I didn't include Natsumi because I had so much to write about when it came to Naruto interacting with the kids in the academy and setting up friendships and other things. I see that some people didn't like the fact that Naruto could train Sasuke. I assure you all that I'm not just giving Sasuke power, there is a reason for that just like there's a reason for everything. You just have to wait and see what it is.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters from the manga or show, the same goes for Spiderman and its animated series or comic books.**

**Faith of an Avenger**

**Chapter 6**

"Why are you helping me?"

Naruto sighed, rubbing his temples before lifting his unusual glare settled on the raven haired kid. Sasuke glared right back, his arms crossing over his chest. It wasn't so much that Sasuke wasn't grateful, he was; on some small level in a miniscule portion of his mind, very grateful to the blond for what he'd extended in offer.

He just didn't show it.

"I'm helping you get over this by showing you that the power you have will be enough for your goal. Your brother did a horrible thing, but you shouldn't be letting it control how you act. That's like saying that you'll give him your Sharingan because he said he didn't want it."

Sasuke scowled petulantly at this remark, opening his mouth to retort and making Naruto speak to cut him off.

"I know you wouldn't, but I know you're smart enough to understand what I'm saying. You need to do this for you and not because you're angry or hurt. He'll pay, but you shouldn't go out of your way to make him regret doing it because in the end you'll just end up exactly like him."

Sasuke paused at this, his ire beginning to lessen until he could begin to really see what the blond was talking about. The more he thought about what he was talking about, the more he realized that Itachi had been playing him from the start. He'd killed everyone, ruthlessly, but when it came to his little brother he couldn't do it, why?

He'd used the Tsukuyomi.

Sasuke shuddered unconsciously, causing Naruto to frown and settle a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke jumped and scowled, brushing his hand away. He needed more time to think, to understand.

"Just train me and I'll figure out what I want to do."

Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes while he crossed his arms, his Rinnegan glaring hotly at the raven haired Sharingan user.

"I'll train you, but if I don't like how you're going on I'll stop. Understand?"

Sasuke sneered but didn't say anything, choosing to walk away just as Iruka opened the door to the Academy classroom and called them all inside. Naruto, shrugging his shoulders with a sigh, stuck his hands in his pockets and wandered toward the door just as Ino and Sakura came running up to join him in his walk.

**_Classroom_**

Naruto took a seat at the back of the room, folding his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair. Closing his eyes, he began to call out to Natsumi mentally, wondering why he'd been without her presence for so long. He hadn't noticed it, chalking it up to her being asleep again, but then again she hadn't called on him to train in a long time, for her anyway, and he was worried.

Then there was the slime he'd come to terms with.

It was always hungry and always willing to do whatever it took to gain some extra power. The first time he'd encountered its fierce hunger, he'd been training alone and had blacked out. It hadn't been pretty when he'd come to, and he had vowed then and there to never allow it to gain any control what so ever.

**_Flashback year four of the training trip._**

Sighing, Naruto plopped down in the clearing he had been training in and rubbed his eyes, weary from lack of sleep and fatigue. He hadn't been sleeping well, plagued with monstrous images of a battle between a gigantic spider and the only thing he could recognize as familiar in the dream.

A gigantic orange nine tailed fox.

The fight was as bloody as they were large, the spider continuously leeching the fox's chakra only for the fox to simply call upon even more of its limitless chakra supply. Every time the fox struck, the portion that was damaged on the Spider's body would simply explode in a hail of stringy black sludge that attached itself to anything it touched and sucked it dry of any and all energy it possessed.

Naruto suppressed a shiver.

"I hate spiders."

This was when Natsumi chose to speak to him in his mind. Her alluring voice echoed faintly, yet clearly to him from all around him and nowhere at the same time. It was like she was right there, but he knew if he looked around, looking for her, he'd only look like an idiot and amuse her enough to prompt her to make fun of him.

She did that enough as it was.

**"Naruto-kun."**

He internalized his response, simply thinking about whatever he wanted to say to her so that he wouldn't appear to be talking to himself. He had people that thought he was evil and bloodthirsty as it was already and he didn't need people to think he was crazy to boot.

"Yes, Natsumi-chan?"

There was a pause.

**"I want you to take a break. Our little visitor is getting restless again. Your mental control sucks, so I have to keep it under wraps until you can control it at a level so that you can either use it or hide it."**

Naruto glowered at this, slouching with a pout.

"Natsumi-chan, when you put it that way you make me sound really stupid."

She replied with a leering voice that practically oozed amusement. She replied with a grin in her voice and laughter on the tip of her tongue.

**"You said it, not me."**

Naruto scowled and closed his eyes, concentrating so that he could enter his mindscape. This made Natsumi look up and focus her intense gaze directly on him. She grinned and licked her lips when he came into view, her eyes turning predatory.

This made Naruto pale.

"None of that, Natsumi-chan."

She pouted, her arms crossing under her ample bosom in a childish display of displeasure. This made Naruto look away from her, his cheeks tinted red. She grinned and padded over to the flustered boy and hugged him into her chest, his face snuggled between her breasts. Naruto could think only one thing at this point.

Damn it.

**"Aww, Naruto-kun, don't be like that… I think I'm entitled to some fun time with my host after doing so much work."**

Naruto flailed, trying to escape her iron like grip so that he could get some air into his lungs. With a grin, the red haired vixen released him so that he could back up far enough to breathe but not far enough to get away from her cleavage.

"Natsumi-chan…. I came here to help you help me."

He looked up at her with those ripple patterned eyes and she bit her lip again. She just couldn't help it, she had been sealed away for so long and… she had needs. She knew she'd have to wait a bit longer, but she knew the blond gaki was going to be absolutely and breathtakingly…

Delicious.

He was going to be a little blond Adonis and she was going to stake her claim early and reap the benefits later. When Naruto frowned at her, she realized he'd wanted her opinion and she'd been simply staring at him like a moron. When he opened his mouth to speak she stuck his head back between her breasts, causing him to squeak and her to stroke the back of his head, cooing affectionately.

**"Aww, thank you Naruto-kun, but… how are you going to do that?"**

He planted his hands on her sides and pushed, the touch making her squirm a bit and her grip loosen on him. He came up, gasping with glassed over eyes. She snickered, watching him take a calming breath.

"I'm going to see if it can be reasoned with. "

And he had, his bravery making her frown because she knew he was too brave for his own good. His heart was too damned good for him to sit by and watch anyone do something for his sake while he stood idly by.

And he'd get hurt over it, too.

This made her sad, because she knew it was in his nature and because of that he was going to either end up dead or seriously injured.

It scared her, a little.

She bit her lip and tapped a finger against her forearm after she crossed her arms.

Okay, maybe more than a little.

When he'd gone into the cell he'd conjured for it, she had known that something would go wrong. She had known that whenever he did something, nothing ever went according to plan.

So when it took over his body, she hadn't been too terribly surprised.

He'd been covered in head to toe in it, a form fitting breathable material that not even her claws could rend through easily and even then it just regenerated itself perfectly every time. When she'd looked outside to see the changes, she'd been completely surprised by what she'd seen.

His body had changed, his musculature having grown in mass tremendously as had his stature. He had been pretty short before this started, now she was sure if he'd been standing before her in this form he'd easily tower above her.

It scared her and thrilled her at the same time.

She watched as he carved a swathe of destruction into the surrounding tree line, the black mass around him, encompassing him in this black suit like interface, writhing about on top of his skin as it lashed out at anything and everything it could detect an energy signature from.

Chakra.

Life energy.

Chi.

Ki.

Everything it could detect, it attacked and drained it dry. And then her delicious little blond had come to stand beside her, beating back this… this…

Infection.

Yes, he beat back this infection with only his will power and his sheer strength of self. He forced it back into its cage and had since taken to going back into the cage to understand how it worked. He'd made more progress with it than she'd thought, gaining the abilities of this monster and growing more intelligently aware of it every time he came back.

**_Flashback end_**

With a sigh Naruto called out, mentally, to Natsumi again and received no answer yet again. With a frown, he tested calling out a small amount of her power. It worked, but only for a moment and the amount he called out took entirely too long for him to focus.

Now he was really worried.

Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back and began to try any means of entering his mind. He tried hard to tune out the chattering of Ino and Sakura s they got reacquainted with one another after, apparently, so long apart from one another. He managed to tune out Sasuke as he drummed his fingers on his desk, impatient as always.

He was rewarded by his surrounding changing to that of an open plain with a gigantic house at its center. This was where he was going, and fast, because as soon as he entered his mind she should have been there, playing with him, toying with his with that amusing glint in her eye and the jeering laughter in her voice.

As it stood, he could barely feel any of her presence at all, and it was starting to terrify him.

He burst into her usual lounging area and swept his eyes around the room, looking for any sign of her. His heartbeat practically hammering his ribcage and making him vibrate. Then he saw it, a pale clearly feminine hand extended from behind a pile of cushions.

He hoped she was sleeping.

He walked briskly over to her and impatiently tossed away the superfluous cushions so that he could see her. He was terrified, each cushion amplifying his anxiety tenfold as he moved them out of his way.

What he found broke his heart.

She was there, lying as if asleep, but he knew she wasn't. Her eyes were wide open, staring ahead of her unseeing and glassy and her skin was faintly warm, but her body heat was still there. Her chakra was almost completely drained, and he could see the puncture marks at the base of her neck as he lifted her into his arms.

He could feel her breathing, and when he checked he found a pulse.

Barely.

Then he saw it, the gigantic black figure of a rather large spider as it descended on a web a few feet from them both. Its eyes, compound and staring intently, never once looked away, not even as the blond scooped up the taller woman and carried her to a new pile of cushions to lay her there. He closed her eyes and then turned away from her to glare at the silent beast.

How had it escaped?

How hadn't he known?

Why didn't she call him?

He was frustrated and angry, his fists clenching.

"Back into your cage, Venom."

It didn't seem to hear him, its mandibles clicking noisily as it seemed to bounce in place. Naruto grew more incensed and, in a rare display of rage, yanked up his shirt just as, the now identified; venom lunged at him with a screech.

His fingers locked over the seal and with a rotation of his wrist the same chains that bound the Kyuubi sprang forth from everywhere around the room to bind the great black spider, kicking and screeching as it sought to devour his power.

It couldn't, and seemed to realize this, as it stopped struggling and simply took to staring at him. As he turned away, the chains dragged away the beast, further into his mind and away from his precious Natsumi.

He felt useless, even if he'd eventually gotten to her… It hadn't been enough. It would never be enough, until she was free of his presence so she could be free to do as she pleased without any obligations.

Without him to look after, she'd be better off.

"Natsumi-chan?"

He'd called out to her, gently shaking her at her shoulder while he did and when she didn't respond in anyway, he began to cry. He shook her a bit more vigorously, his tear streamed face hovering over her until she opened her dulled crimson eyes and stared up at him. She took notice of his face and it made her heart soar to know she meant so much. Reaching up with shaky hands, she wiped away his tears and spoke, her voice quaking and unsteady.

**"Stop crying, baka… "**

He couldn't and tried to speak, but all that escaped him was more sobbing. He was relieved and still very much afraid of losing her because she wasn't alright and she was very, very weak.

She smiled and, in typical fashion for her, pulled his face between her breasts and stroked his hair as he cried his eyes out. She stroked her fingers through his hair and, showing that she was recovering, if very slowly, by sitting up and hugging him to her chest.

**"I'm alright, Naruto-kun… You saved me. Shh, it's alright…"**

**_Outside, classroom._**

It took Naruto ten minutes to get himself together n hid mindscape, and it was ten minutes of Natsumi soothing his broken heart. He was so very unwilling to leave her, and as much as she wanted him to be as close as he was, but she knew he had to pull himself together and return to the outside world.

He needed to graduate and meet his team, after all.

So, she held him and comforted him by reassuring him and letting him know that she would be fine. She'd even teased him a bit, but he'd only held onto her as tightly as possible. She couldn't help but feel amazed at his ability to stand so tall when he alone shouldered the weight of his existence, but when other did it for him it broke him to see them hurt.

He was such a selfless person.

And she loved it.

She could feel him, even now, peeking into their mental link to check up on her and it made her blush to know that he was this protective her. She was the Kyuubi, the strongest of tailed beasts and by all rights she should have been offended by his ever watchful gaze.

But it only served to endear him to her more.

She watched as the scar faced chunin began to speak and chuckled as Naruto ignored him in favor of watching her. When his name was called he didn't hear it, and so she got his attention by purring in such a way that he nearly got a nose bleed.

**"Better pay attention out there, Naruto-kun…"**

He snapped to attention and hopped up to get his headband, red faced and completely embarrassed. She laughed long and loud at that image, his form sinking back into his seat after he'd tied his headband around his head. He paid attention after that, but still popped into their mental link fequently. She didn't dare tease him about his over protectiveness because she knew it could set him off again and then he'd never want to go back out into the real world again.

When Iruka announced the team placements, he barely paid attention to anything but his own name and the team number. For him, everything went by in a blur because he was always hovering between awake and unconscious due to him checking up on Natsumi so much.

The best thing was when his Sensei appeared to them three hours late, he hadn't noticed and simply stood when the familiar face mask and eye smiling Kakashi peeked his head into their classroom and told them to meet him on the roof.

He'd gone straight there on autopilot, not quite checking up on Natsumi as much. Sakura was taking notice of his scattered awareness, because she'd been talking to him and he hadn't even heard her. She'd gotten mad and yanked on his ear hard enough to tilt his head, and he still hadn't so much as winced.

What was up with him?

She looked at Sasuke and found him not even paying attention to either her or Naruto, much to her displeasure. He was simply walking with them to the roof, hands stuck in the pockets of his khaki shorts as he ascended the staircase to the roof with Naruto and Sakura in tow.

**_Roof_**

Kakashi eye smiled when his Genin walked out onto the roof and took seats in the three chairs he'd set up a few minutes prior to his arrival. The pink haired one he smiled at and she glared, probably because he was so late.

"Alright then, I'm Hatake Kakashi and I'll be your Jounin instructor for your time in team seven. You guys have been selected to take the Genin test-"

The pink haired girl frowned and interrupted, making Kakashi sigh.

"We already took a test to become Genin, though."

Kakashi lowered his eye to a book that none of them had seen him take out and began to speak, his single eye never leaving the page he had opened the book to.

"That test was just a test to see if you had the potential to become Genin. The one I'll give you tomorrow will be the one that decides if you actually become Genin or not."

This made Sakura frown a bit more, but she didn't say anything more on the subject. Kakashi nodded to himself and swept his visible eye over the three of them once again before he spoke.

"Right, so how about some introductions to start us off? How about you tell your name, your likes and dislikes, hobbies and skills."

To his surprise, the girl hailed as the smartest in her class asked the stupidest question he'd ever heard.

"How about you do it for us, Sensei? Show us how it's done?"

Kakashi resisted the urge to face palm and stowed his book in his Kunai pouch just before he began speaking.

"Sure. As I told you earlier, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes and a few dislikes, my dreams aren't any of your business and I have many skills that I'm sure you'll all benefit from."

Sasuke scowled and Sakura frowned. He hadn't told them a god damned thing! As she opened her mouth to yell at him, Kakashi spoke and cut her off.

"You can start us off, Pinky."

She glared at the grey haired ninja but didn't make a comment on his nickname for her.

"My name is Haruno Sakura and my likes are…Eh, that is to say…"

She looked back and forth between Naruto and Sasuke, making Kakashi arch an eyebrow at her.

"… My teammates, yeah. My dislikes are people that…. Don't like my team mates? I can...err, only do the Kawarimi, Henge and Bunshin, but I've mastered them completely!"

Kakashi smiled at her, but inwardly he was cringing because he could tell that she was a very confused person and hadn't really found out who she was for herself yet. He hoped the two guys on her team could hold her up until she came out of her shell.

"You're up next, duck butt."

Sasuke bristled at the jibe at his hair but didn't say anything about it, choosing to scowl and glare at the older man for a moment before he began to speak.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke and my goal, right now, is to revive my clan and to make a certain someone pay for ruining my life. My likes are strength and the people that help me obtain it. My dislikes are anyone who betrays their loved ones and being weak."

Sakura had hearts in her eyes, and Kakashi sighed and nodded. The boy was unstable, and would need to be carefully watched. He could see that he was changing, maybe for the better, but there was still so much aggression in him and Kakashi was afraid something would trigger it and make him start sliding backwards.

"Alright then, Naruto-kun."

Sakura arched an eyebrow at their sensei and cocked her head. Sasuke frowned, staring up at the man as if asking for an explanation of some sort. Naruto just sat there, like he had been the entire time, and stared off into space. Sakura chose to ask the obvious question…

"Have you met him before or something?"

Kakashi eye smiled and nodded, his gaze moving to Naruto as the boy blinked and seemed to wake up. Of course, Kakashi knew just why he wasn't as attentive as he should have been. He could only be talking to Natsumi. While he didn't originally agree with Naruto talking to the fox, he'd later discovered that the fox was not as bad as she seemed.

Just a bad rap, is all.

More or less.

"Kakashi? What're you doing here?"

This made Sakura sweat drop and Kakashi chuckle, lifting his book up to read as he answered. He'd been very distracted apparently.

"I'm your Jounin sensei and you're apart of team-"

"Seven, I know that much. Just wasn't all there for this part."

Kakashi eye smiled and turned the page in his book, making Naruto sigh. Kakashi lowered his book a moment and turned to Naruto, speaking softly.

"Please, introduce yourself formally to your new team mates. Tell them your likes, dislikes, dreams and skills."

Naruto nodded and propped his feet up on the railing around the roof, folding his arms behind his head as he began to speak. He closed his eyes, seeing Natsumi as she curled up on some cushions with her eyes closed. His cheeks lit up when she peeked open a single red eye and curled her index finger in his direction in a 'come hither' motion with that predatory look on her face.

"My name is Uzumaki-Nami- Er, Uzumaki Naruto and my hobbies are spending time with my precious people, training and playing the occasional prank. My likes are Ramen, Kakashi-sensei, Ero-sennin, my best friend Natsumi and Jiji. My dislikes are people that are arrogant and people that are narrow minded. My dream is to become Hokage and my skills include Shadow Clones, my doujutsu and Taijutsu."

Naruto blushed as he spied Natsumi pouting and playfully glaring at him with her arms crossed under her breasts.

**"Am I only a ****_friend_****, Naruto-kun?"**

Kakashi snapped his book shut and stood up, sticking his book back into his Kunai pouch before he began to talk. Naruto snapped to attention when Kakashi stood and watched patiently as the Jounin began to speak.

"The real Genin test begins at six in the morning in training ground seven. Don't be late and don't eat unless you want to throw up."

Before either one of them had a chance to say anything, Kakashi lobbed a note laden rock into Naruto's lap and was up and over the railing of the roof in seconds. Naruto blinked down at the rock, unwrapping the note from it so that he could read it.

Naruto, meet me at the Hokage tower in ten minutes.

Naruto crumpled the paper and stood, stretching. He'd finally mastered it, and it made him grin. It was not possible for him to keep an eye on Natsumi and be outside of his mind at the same time. He'd managed to split his mental focus in such a way that he didn't need to be in his mind to see her and he could communicate with her at will without having to use his mental link to her.

His mental celebration was interrupted by Sakura's voice as she clasped her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her heels for a moment.

"Do you guys want to go grab a bite to eat as a team?"

Sasuke didn't even reply, turning away to walk to the door to the roof. As he opened the door and spoke clearly and concisely to her, his free hand tucked in his pocket.

"No."

And then he was walked down the stairs and out of sight. Sakura turned her gaze on Naruto to see him just finishing putting away the note in his pants pocket. He walked to the railing and hopped up onto it, offering the pinkette a smile that made her heart beat a little faster and her own smile bloom.

"I can't today, Sakura-chan. Maybe we can do it after we've already become Genin? That way we can really celebrate!"

She offered a brilliant smile and nodded, her cheeks alight. Naruto waved to her and leapt off of the building, making her run to the edge and peer over in fear of what she might see.

He was gone.

With a small huff, she smiled a small smile to herself and made her way home.

**_The Hokage Tower_**

When Naruto touched down outside of Sarutobi Hiruzen's office window, he noticed three things. One was that the Hokage was not alone, two being that he was with Kakashi and Jiraiya and three was that they were all looking directly at him.

He felt like such a shitty ninja, now.

As he opened the window and climbed inside, Kakashi eye smiled at him and Jiraiya gave him a nod and a smile. Sarutobi smiled as well, and gestured for Naruto to take a sea so that they could get started.

"Naruto, do you know why Kakashi wanted you to come here today?"

Naruto shook his head in the negative, his head turning to look at the cycloptic Jounin for a moment before his attention was, once again, turned on Sarutobi.

"He's called you hear to ask you a very important question. You don't have to answer right away ad you most certainly don't have to agree to anything you don't want to."

Naruto nodded, certain to pay attention very carefully after the Hokage said that. He didn't like how that was worded and his fight or flight response was starting to kick in.

"Naruto."

His head turned to the cycloptic Jounin as he addressed him and watched as he eye smiled and walked closer, settling a hand on the boys shoulder. He knelt so that he could be eye level with the Genin hopeful and dropped the bomb.

"How would you like to be my son?"

**_Beneath Konoha, Root Headquarters._**

Danzo smiled as the silver haired chunin finished reciting his report of his findings on the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. The boy was promising indeed, and still growing. The promise of power so intoxicating that he chose to enact his plan right away, rather than let Sarutobi get a foothold in the boy's life.

That was why he had left minutes ago to go to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's last known and reported location. He wanted to make sure that Konoha could have more Shinobi like this boy and he would ensure it. The Rinnegan… the boy was a treasure trove of limitless power and none of it was being tapped like it should be.

No matter, he'd fix that.

**_Hokage Tower._**

Naruto gaped like a fish, his mouth opening and closing as he made small sounds of disbelief. A sensei and a dad in one day, huh? He grinned and launched himself at the cycloptic Jounin who caught him with a grunt. He clung to the man, the Jounin laughing good naturedly as he supported his new son's weight. Kakashi settled Naruto on his feet but didn't let go, holding onto his smaller frame tightly as the blondes mood went from happy to sad in a matter of moments.

Kakashi found himself helplessly holding onto his son while Jiraiya and Sarutobi looked on smiling faintly as the blond cried into his new father's shirt. He was so happy he just couldn't hold it in, and even Natsumi found herself smiling, happy for the boy because he finally got what he deserved.

A knock sounded on the door to the Hokage's office and Sarutobi smiled as Naruto hurriedly wiped his eyes on his sleeve and peered up at his new father with a smile. The door opened and in walked the bandaged form of Shimura Danzo, a neutral expression on his face as he fixed a gaze on young Naruto for a moment before he turned his steady eyes on Hiruzen.

"Sarutobi, do you have a minute? I'd like to discuss something with you."

**_Outside Konoha, a cave in a random place._**

"Finally, it's done. We have a few months before we can start moving on the Jinchuuriki."

A spiky haired figure with ripple patterned eyes blinked and turned his unusual gaze on the plant like man standing to his right.

"We know where the one, two and three tails are. Have you found the four tails yet?"

The two toned figure of the plant man answered in a lazy drawl that he hoped seemed was pacifying, because he hadn't been able to find out where the jinchuuriki had gone to. He knew that he'd been in his native village and had left it to venture out on his own due to the treatment he'd received, but his current whereabouts were unknown.

"No, Leader-sama. I haven't been able to find him, but I feel I am getting close."

The spiky haired specter didn't speak for a moment, but when he did he didn't bother to look at the one he was addressing.

"Keep searching. We need to move soon. "

"Yes, Leader-sama."

A woman with blue hair and striking amber eyes entered the room behind the spiky haired shadowy figure and began to speak.

"Itachi and Kisame have decided to keep their distance from the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and observe a new lead they have found within the village."

This made the ring eyed shadow turn to face her, his voice intrigued.

"Oh?"

"It seems one of the elder council members is willing to strike a deal with us as long as the village isn't harmed and the Akatsuki make Konoha it's official ally when we start to move on the Jinchuuriki. It seems that if we simply wait, they'll deliver the Jinchuuriki to us when the time is right."

"Hm."

The woman turned to leave the room, speaking with her back to the lavender eyed being.

"They wish to send a contact to meet with Itachi and Kisame to strike the deal. Shall I tell them to go ahead with it?"

The figure turned away from her and remained silent for a time before his voice responded with a bit of amusement in his voice.

"I will allow this. Have them give this contact the okay to meet with them at a time of their choosing in the near future."

As she closed the door to the room and the plant man melted into the floor and the leader of the Akatsuki closed his eyes and became one with the shadows.

"Hai."

**AN: And that's the story so far. hope you guys enjoyed it, and I hope you guys will keep reading and reviewing so that I'll feel more motivated to write this story. I also have to ask that you guys don't make judgements about this story before the story even gets started. Honestly, I had someone review saying that I was overpowering Sasuke because I had Naruto agree to train him when asked. You didn't even wait to see why I did it, and immediately wrote off my story as not worth your time. Please bear in mind that I'm setting up a plot and things may seem very unlikely or stupid, but there's a reason for that.**


	7. An Apology and a Promise

I'm sorry to all the readers whom I have disappointed by not being able to post chapters as I had originally promised. It was not my intent to leave you all hanging. It was not my intent to stop posting chapters. Life just ended up forcing my hand. You see, my computer was stolen, among other things, when my house was broken into. I am, presently, borrowing a computer from a family member who is, for lack of a better description, " A self centered son of a bitch."

So I promise you this.

I will make, regular, bi weekly trips to a friends place where it was agreed that I would write chapters until I had enough to begin posting every other week or so.

That was last week.

Next week expect a chapter at some point.

I'll be purchasing a new computer in about four months time, however, so this arrangement isn't permanent.

For those of you who are still waiting... I'm sorry I let you down.

And for those of you who left reviews... Thank you. I promise I'll address them as soon as I can, properly.

- The New Sage Of Six Paths.


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